Cross Country
by StormDragon666
Summary: Married couple Tsunade and Jiraiya Hokage adopted eleven children, and led the most pleasant life imaginable with them. A single month then sends the family into a money crisis they may not be able to handle. When things look their worst, middle schoolers Sakura, Kiba and Hinata run away from home...with a moneymaking scheme in mind. Adventures and Amber alerts lie ahead.
1. Intro

Some of you might have seen in my profile I said I was starting a one-shot. Well, it _was _a one-shot. (Even though I never finished it WAS gonna be a one-shot.) Now I decided to go more in-depth to the one-shot and make it a chapter story like all my others. If you want to know what the "original" idea was, you can ask me, since it would take up too much space here. I like the idea more now, so I'll add some more stuff and turn it into a real story. But I have to make some notes before I actually write this.

1.) There will be some **OOC-ness at times**.

2.) I may get **some dates and birthdays wrong**. I can't help it if the **calendar can be confusing**.

3.) Some cites in this story, like Casper, are places I'm just getting off Google and such. So **certain streets, shops and addresses are going to be made-up, **though the city will be a real place.

4.) These kids are **twelve and thirteen**. **They're not mature adults. **Deal with it.

Enjoy...?

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Wednesday, March 30th, 2006, 2:54 PM

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"Ino, I said no! Hey! No touchy the backpack!"

"Come _on _Sakura! I just want a little help with the prepositions!"

"Look them up on google! Bug off, Ino...! I said--"

Ino huffed and put her hands on her slim waist as Sakura walked off the bus and farther away from her. She caught up, dodging between Shino, Shikamaru and Lee, and walked next to Sakura on the curb. "You think just 'cause you turned twelve a couple days ago you can boss me around, you're stronger than me, _geez, _overconfidence much?"

"You think you're stronger than me? How 'bout we stand on a bridge and see which one starts flying first?"

"You couldn't push me off a bridge if you had a boxing glove to do it with, twerp."

"You wanna go?!"

"I wouldn't waste my time!"

"You freaking _brat_--!"

"Will you two _shut up? _I'm doing some pre-algebra here!"

Sakura glared furiously at Ino and moved onto the curb, walking carefully so as not to fall off. Ino went a bit farther off, walking near Hinata and shaking her head at the annoying younger pink-head. Sakura skipped a step on the sidewalk and jabbed an elbow to her right, shoving Kankurou and nearly making him drop his notebook and calculator into the street sewer. He shoved her back almost as hard, but she seemed to ignore the action. "Pre-al, yeah right!" She snapped. "That's just fractions; Kiba could do those."

Kankurou shook his head, not even bothering to counter her. '_Ugh. Sixth graders!'_

Tenten leaned over his shoulder from his left and looked at his homework he had in his hands. "Nah, some of it's algebra, Sakura. Pretty much all math is algebra in one way or another, you know." Sakura stuck her hands into the pockets of her zipped jacket and sighed. Ino pouted and Kiba rolled his eyes. The others merely watched.

"Well, do you have the same homework as him?" Kiba asked, rubbing the red tattoos on his cheeks. "I thought Kankurou was the one in the advanced math class." Tenten nodded. "He is, but I know what his class is learning. His math teacher is friends with mine, so we know what's happening in each other's classes." The brunette girl looked up at Sakura and Kiba, walking side by side like always. "So do you guys have homework today? Shizune wanted to take us to see that Happy Feet movie since we're off school tomorrow and Friday."

Kiba sighed dreamily. Teacher Work Days were the best--teachers went to school for meetings and thier students didn't! Sakura answered for him, "One worksheet on grammar, prepositions and stuff...and we have to start reading a chapter book over the weekend. I'm gonna start reading Artemis Fowl. Kiba, whatcha gonna read?" After being jabbed in the ribs, he fell out of his dream world and replied, "Oh, uh...uh, maybe that one with the dog who gets--"

"Don't ruin the ending." Shino warned. Shikamaru sighed from next to him, staring at the sky as usual.

Ino and Sakura were still not done ruffling each other's fur. Sakura's back was turned; Ino could easily imagine the smirk on her face and grew angry. Just as Ino would have grabbed a fistful of Sakura's short, pink hair, the girl slipped away and dashed at high speed down the street to their home. Ino took off after her, her bright blue backpack laden with keychains rattling behind her.

"Wait up, Sakura!" Kiba shouted. He grasped Hinata's hand and tugged her along as he ran after his best friend. Ino was soon left behind and Hinata, Kiba and Sakura dashed at incredible speed to the big, three-story house on Highstone Drive. They ran up the porch steps and into the home of Tsunade and Jiraiya Hokage, and Tsunade's sister, Shizune Dan. Three adults and their eleven kids.

Every last one adopted.

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Tsunade Dan, now called Tsunade Hokage, loved kids. She really did.

But she was scared of actually giving birth to one.

She was scared of the pain it would cause her, and the fact that if she lived through the pain she might raise a terrible child. Before she married her childhood friend and highschool lover, Jiraiya Hokage, she told him this. He understood, and despite that, asked her to marry him. Tsunade hadn't considered refusing at all. Even right after the official kiss at the altar, Tsunade reminded Jiraiya of her not wanting to have a child. Jiraiya said they'd use birth control, and he'd help her deal with the penetration pain as best he could. Thus reminding Tsunade of her lover's ever-present perverted mind, thus resulting in the comical action of Tsunade slapping her _husband_ for the first time. Her younger sister, Shizune, had spat wine on them in her choking laughter.

For many years, _quite _a few years, Tsunade and Jiraiya used birth control. Ahem. But they also lived happily, and Tsunade even asked her sister Shizune to move in with them for company. The three were a small and happy family. Tsunade lost her nagging fear of childbirth pain and child-raising consequences in her cheerful life. However, when she was around the age of 45, (when she still miraculously looked just 30) she began having "thoughts." These thoughts were caught onto by her husband, and after a few weeks, she asked him if they could adopt children.

Jiraiya loved the idea and took her to an orphanage in Casper, a nice, large town where they planned to move to. There at Little Loved Ridge Orphanage, Tsunade adopted three kids.

Temari, the first, was a 9-year-old, bad-tempered blonde, the oldest of the three adopted ones. She was a stubborn and often rude but cared for her little brother, whom the couple also adopted. His name was Kankurou, adopted at age 8. He always wore violet face-paint, and liked to play with sock puppets. Kankurou's dearest friend was one who was adopted as the third. She was 8 years old, same as Kankurou, a brunette named Tenten, of Chinese descent. Her hair was perpetually in two Chinese buns, and she loved to play with sharp things, particularly the kitchen knives the orphanage superiors always tried to keep her away from.

For several months, Tsunade and Jiraiya cared for their new kids and loved them, though giving discipline and limits when needed. Tsunade's fears of raising a kid the "wrong way" faded into nothing and she loved her kids more and more. Their bonds grew and it was no different than blood-related children. She claimed she could recognize each one of the kids by the sounds of their footsteps.

Temari was a cynical one, almost never giving a compliment but instead snapping rude remarks and taunting others. But she was no coward, as most bullies are. No, if Temari was challenged, she fought. She fought and she won. She won and she fawned on the victory. It took awhile for the adults to realize that to make Temari a nice person they simply had to give her a cute little fan to play with. Nothing else on Earth had ever worked.

Though, she could sense that though they had some friends in school and on their street, they wanted a bit more. Tenten, speaking for the three of them, even admitted that they wanted another sibling. Agreeing with them, the couple were about to leave for another orphanage when an old gambling partner of Tsunade's, Inoichi Yamanaka, came to their door, stopping them the minute before they left home to adopt again. He asked if they would take care of his 7-year old daughter, Ino, as a soldier he was to be called out as needed, and was needed in the Middle East. Accepting, little Ino became part of the family, and though she could be a handful, she was loved just as much as the others.

Ino was slightly air-headed child with good intentions, which often saved her from trouble. She grew to be quite the expert in anything cosmetic or stylish and could figure out by herself which clothes were her size and what color makeup could perfectly complement someone. Ino became a part of the family around November, and more kids came soon after, though, like Ino, they were "given" and not "adopted" from an orphanage. Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi were put under the family's trusted care. Two of them were 7, but chouji was nearly 9. At that time, the family consisted of three adults, and seven children all under ten years old. The boys had been close friends since infancy, and their parents had all been "mysteriously killed". Though, since they were young and playful and their minds occupied with thoughts of games and food, the boys were not traumatized at all.

Shino was the _quietest_ boy any of them had ever seen. He was usually in the backyard looking at insects, or reading. He was perpetually on-guard for anyone who might steal his glasses, which he was wary to take off even for sleeping. Shikamaru slept more than anything else, but was smarter than anyone else in his grade, or so his report cards constantly said. Chouji was always eating and always sensitive about it, and quite often hung around Shikamaru, whom he had known even before adoption. His only true flaw was to go into a raving temper tantrum whenever anyone called him fat.

The family of ten lived happily still, with three adults to bring in a good supply of money, more than enough to keep their three-story house and home and buy some luxuries now and again. But, as they had guessed, the family got bigger yet again. Jiraiya and Tsunade had left for a resort in Denver to relax one April week and passed an orphanage on their way home, from which they adopted a seven-year-old named Sakura. Her neck-length hair was strangely pink as bubble-gum and the unusual sight captivated everyone. Sakura was a wild spirit in a small body, and with elder sisters like Temari and Tenten, she grew up with a rather boyish taste for, shall we say, not taking shit from anyone.

And as you can probably guess, Sakura wasn't the end of the adoption line. Some two months after Sakura's adoption, Jiraiya visited the same orphanage from which Tenten, Temari and Kankurou had come, and found a new resident there: Kiba, who demanded that his puppy, Akamaru, be adopted with him. And of course it went just that way. Kiba was a hard-headed, curious and strong boy with a nose for adventure, fitting qualities as he loved dogs, and owned one. It was probably that adventurous quality that molded Sakura and him together as best friends.

June of that year, Jiraiya allowed Kiba to go with him to Portland to visit a "book client". Kiba insisted they check out an orphanage. And hell, was Tsunade replied when her husband came home with an extra kid! Hinata was her name, soft, scared and quiet as a mouse, most likely because her heartless father hadn't wanted her and had dumped her at an orphanage with nothing but the clothes on her back. When introduced to the family, Hinata was taken under the wings of Sakura and Kiba and became their second best friend. She was shyer than she looked, never stating her opinion on much. Unless of course, one had to force the answer out of her with a fake threat.

But while Hinata was still working on her shyness and self-esteem, the last adopted child came into the family, by the name of Rock Lee. Or, the "Green Beast", as he called himself quite a bit. Lee was found at the same orphanage as Kiba, Kankurou, Tenten and Temari, though he'd been put in there only a day or so after Kiba left. His father, a martial arts-loving man called Maito Gai, had been forced by Draft to leave for the same war that Ino's father was participating in, with a promise to his beloved son that he'd be back one day.

Lee, adopted as an 8-year-old, about Kankurou and Tenten's age at the time, was a cheerful, proud and odd individual. His hair had a bowl-cut and his eyebrows were huge, and he had a taste for certain jumpsuits. Basically, a copy of his father, if a lot skinnier. His personality seemed to fit his odd features. Lee was a fighter to the end, never giving up, and when he lost, he lost with honor, praising his opponent and wishing him or her luck forever after in a rather dramatic fashion. Lee loved to work, and loved to help.

Not long after Lee was adopted, the public took a serious interest in the Hokage family, made up now of three adults and eleven adopted children all living in one three-story house in Casper, Wyoming. Reporters came to the door one December day, some three months after Lee was adopted, asking for interviews and photos. All the parents got five or six minutes each to talk on the News that was broadcasted everywhere in the midwest and northwest of the US. Each child got a few seconds on airtime to say something about their lives--except for Hinata, who got so camerashy that Kiba had to talk for her--and even Akamaru got a chance to do a cute little "woof" on camera. Some generous people sent them money for having so many children, though it wasn't needed. The three parents had plenty of cash to provide for their family, as they were all successful in their work areas.

Lee, as Jiraiya personally told the interviewers, was the last adopted child in the line, and the family wasn't likely to adopt another. No, they were the perfect family...sort of. It was a great life for them, is a way to put it. They were family and friends at the same time, brothers and sisters and comrades and rivals. Each of the children were cared for and happy and were likely to never see any big problems in their lives with their moneymaker-parents caring for them. The News program had ended with the whole family--dog included--waving goodbye to the viewers. Many, to this day, had not forgotten the adorable faces of the little kids who were almost left to die in orphanages.

Many, to this day, did not see the crisis that would come at the family in the future.

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Well wasn't that just lovely. Basically, inspired by how much I love runaway stories, or stories about how the protagonist is fleeing the antagonist. It just gets my adrenaline going, lol. Onto the next chapter! We'll see the beginning of the money troubles.

Ta...Storm


	2. Our Life

It's only been oh, say, 16 hours since I posted the first chapter of Cross Country. (Hm. I like that ring.) So I'm writing the second chapter not even a day after the first. Too bad. There was just one single review after 16 or so hours but it was a positive one and it made me feel great...so here's chapter 2. Oh, let me just say two things. One: Planet-sized thanks to ShadowStalkerz for being that one reviewer!

Two: I know I wasn't clear before on how old everyone is now, so here: (may as well put occupation, too.)

Jiraiya: 51, erotica writer, author of "Come Come Paradise".

Tsunade: 50, manager of Green Run Bank

Shizune: 39, Nurse at Wyoming Medical Center

Temari: 14, 8th grade student

Kankurou: 13, 7th grade student

Tenten: 13, 7th grade student

Ino: 12, 6th grade student

Shino: 13, 6th grade student

Shikamaru: 12, 6th grade student

Chouji: 13, 6th grade student

Sakura: 12, 6th grade student

Kiba: 12, 6th grade student

Hinata: 12, 6th grade student

Lee: 13, 7th grade student

PS: I screwed around with the kids' ages and looked at Wikipedia for their birthdays constantly to make them mostly correct. They're as good as I can make them now. I'm trying to make some a little younger and older than some others...but it doesn't work too good.

Chapter the 2nd.

666

March 30th, 2006, 8:45 PM

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"Alright, guys! Chop-chop!" Shizune shouted, clapping her hands at the living room full of kids.

"Just because you have two days extra off school doesn't mean you don't take a shower! Who's in there first?"

Ino raised her hand and bounced. "Me, me, Shizune! I just gotta find my PJs!" Ino skipped up the stairs, humming.

Shizune looked after her with a loving smile. Ino missed her bright pink PJs by a long shot. They were sitting right on the banister and she skipped right up past them. "And who's after Ino? Come on, Shikamaru, get it over with. It's just up the stairs. I know you can walk, you're not _that _lazy."

"Augh...fine." Shikamaru yawned and his lazed eyes found their way back to the screen, which was showing the Lion King. Shizune watched as Ino came walking sheepishly down the stairs with her tongue poking out of her mouth and her face flushed pink. She grabbed her PJs from off the banister and made her way up the stairs with a nervous giggle. Only Shizune noticed. She turned to the other kids, sprawled on the couch and the floor in front of it.

Each eye was glued to Scar as he walked through the green acid smoke, beginning his song. Sakura, Kiba and Temari smiled and drummed their fingers in tune with the beat. This was their favorite song of the movie! Shizune almost lost herself in the classic wonder of the song and movie, but then remembered she still had a bit of paperwork to be done by morning. "Well, figure out the order soon. Everyone's in bed by eleven, got it? And lights out by midnight for sure! Temari, you too. Age doesn't always matter. Oh, by the way, since you're fourteen, I have to tell you not to smoke. So don't, okay?"

Temari grunted something back and focused completely on Scar. She and Sakura were practically bouncing in time with Scar's magnificently evil words. Hinata hid her pale face behind the couch's wide pillow. In her opinion, Scar wasn't the most charming singer or character. What the heck did those two see in him? She wondered. Hinata pressed the pillow hard to her face and ears to drown out the sly lion's voice while Temari sang along with it.

_"--be King undisputed, respected, saluted--"_

Chouji burped.

The rude but comforting noise distracted her from the evil lion and she smiled, concentrating then on Temari and Sakura, who were having a conversation about something or other. Temari made some approving sound while she stuffed some of Chouji's food into her mouth. "Scar's an awesome evil dude. The second movie isn't as good as this one. Kovu and Kiara are cool and all...but that lovey stuff is just crud. And cutting Nala out of the whole thing!"

"Movie killers!" Sakura spat with an angry face. As the scene switched to the famous stampede, the front door was heard opening in the foyer. "I'm home, everyone! Come on, where's the hugs?" Hinata took the opportunity to get off the couch and leave down the hall to the foyer to give Tsunade a welcome-home-from-work hug. A reason to get away from the stampede scene, too. She liked it, because it was exciting and dangerous, but also didn't like it...well, she usually couldn't stop herself from crying when Simba saw his dead father--the saddest scene of the whole movie that could have her sniffling for the rest of the night.

"At least I know one out of eleven loves me!" Tsunade shouted as soon as she's hugged Hinata tight.

She patted her on the head and held her hand while walking back into the living room. All the other kids, excluding Ino, were there, watching the Lion King. Shino, Lee and Kankurou looked up. Like usual, Kankurou had a little wooden something-or-other in his hands, and Lee's teeth were as shiny as ever. Shino...well, even if she could only see his head from here, he probably had his hands in his pockets, like always.

"Welcome back, Tsunade!" Lee called from the other side of the room, waving.

He glanced at the TV, and saw that the wildebeest were catching up to Simba and he had leapt onto the rotting tree to try and escape being trampled. "Excuse me, but this is where it gets good!" Lee said with his usual politeness. His head disappeared and there was a "thud" as he plopped down onto the floor.

Tsunade sighed as Hinata found her place at the couch again, with her pillow ready to plug her ears when the sad part came. Tsunade ruffled her blonde hair and called up the stairs, "Jiraiya, come down here for a minute!" It took more minutes than she thought. When her husband finally came down, his brown button-up shirt was wrinkled and his face red and of course, perverted-looking. Tsunade sighed, grasped his collar and pulled him into the kitchen. "How hot do you think your own writing is?" She huffed, setting her purse and leather workbag on the counter. "Hot enough for you to not even put on a clean shirt every morning? Wash your clothes, Jiraiya, for God's sake!"

He nodded and smiled, but the haziness never left his face. His wide grimaced and rolled her eyes. Why the hell didn't he EVER change? She unclipped her workbag and lifted a packet of papers from the bottom stack. They were stapled together, and had lots of red pen marks on them. Her own name was around the top, along with several other signatures.

"Come on, look at this." Jiraiya rubbed his eyes and licked his lips, trying to regain composure from his last author-ly run of inspiration before. He moved his head down and studied the front page of the packet. "Mmm...you switched to Chevy Chase? But don't you own the Green Run? How can you switch banks if you own one, dearheart?" He found all of a sudden that the top of his head hurt, and his wife's hand was in a hard fist.

"How many times have I told you not to call me _dearheart_, Jiraiya? Look closer. _I _didn't switch banks. You know that old man Faloman, and his daughter, too? They switched, not me. They had a helluva lot saved."

"So you lost a customer or something?" The old white-haired man rubbed his head.

His wife nodded. "Yup. And it affected paychecks big-time. Faloman had a lot of cash stored for his daughter's college, but they moved last week since Sheila got into Yale. No, really. So that's about...one-fourteenth of my business gone. And when you're talking money, that's a _lot_." Jiraiya read the document. It was all there, but in big and hardly understandable words. Sheila and Faloman Taylor, withdrawing all money and switching banks. All three hundred grand of their money would be taken off the Green Run's accounts and the recent records. Business down a fraction. Have a happy weekend, Mrs. Hokage!

"So? Faloman and Sheila are moving away. Nice knowin' em. Is it going to affect your paycheck?" Tsunade shrugged and pulled out a package of microwavable rice from a cabinet. "To some extent. The usual two or three grand might be down by 15 percent, but that's at the most. I need that fancy calculator you keep in your closet to make sure. Mine sucks ass."

Jiraiya chuckled. "Hehe, don't say dirty things in front of the kids, Tsunade! You know how impressionable some of them are. Remember when Kiba almost said fuck when your mother came over?" Tsunade shuddered, and looked behind her. Sure enough, three little heads, one purple, one pink and one brown, ducked behind the wall and there were three thumps on the couch. The volume of the TV turned up. Mufasa giving a last, helpless shout, and young Simba's reciprocating scream could be heard easily through excited little giggles.

The blonde woman sighed heavily, grasped a tall stool and scooted closer to the counter, which could also serve as a bar by the way it extended outward on one side. "Someday, man. Someday I'm gonna get a call from Westmill telling me that my kid called their teacher a whorehouse bimbo. I can feel it. And no, it's not gonna be in high school. My head's not tingling enough." Jiraiya rubbed his wife's shoulders. A child learning to cuss was an annoying stage for the parent. It typically involved school.

"If you say so, dearheart."

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March 30th, 2006, 11:13

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After all the children had taken showers, put on their pajamas, and finished watching the Lion King, they'd all gone to their separate rooms. Or, not so separate. Even with their three-story house, Tsunade and Jiraiya couldn't afford eleven bedrooms, so the eleven kids shared the four bedrooms. The order, in fact, was this: (On the second floor)

Hinata, Sakura, Kiba in one bedroom.

Temari, Ino and Shikamaru in the bedroom next door.

(Upstairs to third floor, there was:)

Kankurou, Chouji and Shino in the bedroom at the end of the hall,

and Tenten and Lee across from them.

Each bedroom had it's respective bathroom connected to it, even the adults' rooms. Everyone had gathered in the room of Kiba, Sakura and Hinata, and was sitting on the floor by the slightly opened window to get a bit of the breeze outside. They were in that room to play a card game, for which the prize was four king-size Hershey bars that had been snagged from Tsunade's PMS-stash under her and her husband's bed. Presently all the kids sat on Kiba's bed and Hinata's, watching while the last two combatants, Kankurou and Shikamaru, glared at each other and held their cards protectively close to their chests. Without even looking, the two of them flicked up a card from their hands and whipped it down on the carpet.

Both had slapped down a queen of hearts.

"They're genius!" Sakura whispered into Temari's ear. Temari nodded absently, hoping that her brother would win so she could threaten him to--ahem--_ask him for _some chocolate once he won it. The two boys glared some more. Kankurou glared furiously from behind the rim of his oddly-shaped, black, cat-eared, hat. He was _not _going to be outdone by some sixth grader. "Sevvies don't lose to sixies." Was the popular and true seventh-grader saying. He found another card and whipped it down onto the floor just as Shikamaru threw his.

Both had thrown down a nine of spades.

"THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING MY YOUNG HEART!"

Both boys ignored Lee while Tenten and Chouji together shushed Lee before he could go on into one of his grand speeches of youth and energy. Now the two fighting boys had only one card left each. With a trimphant smirk that contrasted greatly to his violet makeup, Kankurou slapped down his last card on top of Shikamaru's.

Shikamaru had a six of spades.

Kankurou, an ace.

"In your pineapple-head _face,_ sixie!" Kankurou's hands drew over the four giant chocolate bars and he pulled them close to his body. Chouji looked about to cry and Temari looked suddenly like a famished lion. Not being able to take the temptation of chocolate any longer, she pounced off the bed and tried to rip away one of the giant candy bars from her brother. The black-clad boy pulled them away just in time for Temari's hand to come slamming down painfully on the floor. Unfortunately for Temari, though the floor was carpeted and soft, her hand had hit it...very hard.

At that moment, Jiraiya opened the door with snacks in his hand, and came in, to see all of his kids laughing themselves to tears while Temari writhed in pain on the floor, holding her hand to her chest. Some of them were blue with lack of air. "How many times have I told you kids not the play Space Cowboy?" This made some of them laugh even more. He waited several minutes for them to calm down, occupying himself with the photos and drawings his kids had put up on the walls above their beds.

"Well, I brought some popcorn for you guys--" He held up a strong hand to hold back the onslaught of hungry younglings he knew was about to run to him.

"--_but _you have to promise to be in bed by midnight. And in bed means in _your _bed. Lee, Tenten, no trading no matter what the dare." Lee and Tenten looked away, whistling nonchalantly. Tenten thanked God for money, thinking of the new ten dollar bill she'd gotten just for sleeping in Lee's bed and letting him sleep in hers.

"I'll get 'em in bed by midnight, Jiraiya," Temari promised. Sakura sat up straighter and said, "I might not be_ asleep_, though..." The other kids looked at her, but Jiraiya replied, "Just as long as you're in bed, either doing a little reading or sleeping. Be glad for you Teacher Work Days, guys..._catch the popcorn!" _He tossed the bag into the air where Lee jumped up and expertly caught it. "I shall be getting some Z's, as they say by midnight, Jiraiya! Count on it!" Jiraiya saluted him and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Kiba and Chouji ripped the bag away from Lee, but his hands refused to let go, so they effectively opened the bag between the three of them. Somehow they didn't spill a single piece on the plush carpet, but no one seemed to notice while they were busy grabbing fistfuls of delightfully delicious popcorn. After getting the first taste of it...well, it was gone pretty fast.

"Mmmm..." Chouji laid back, put his arms behind his head and sighed. "Ahh...I could fall sleep right here!" Sakura poked his stomach. "You'd better not. You're right by the side of my bed I like to get off from. I'd step on you, man." Chouji groaned and shifted position, on a patch of open carpet between Sakura's bed and Kiba's, where neither of the two occupants of the beds would step on him. "Is here better?"

"Yup."

"Let's play a couple more rounds, then go to bed." Tenten suggested. "Tsunade's downstairs now so she won't see us grabbing some more candy. Sakura, you and Lee go. Oh, and Hinata, too. You guys are fast." She looked to Kiba and said to him, "Didn't you say you had to start reading a chapter book? You probably won't win any games, you being you, Kiba. So you shoud start reading a book now. Better start now than later." Kiba gave an indignant scoff, but Kankurou saw the maturity in her words.

He'd liked that ever since he'd met her at Little Loved Ridge. But that sharp object obsession-thing did always make him a little nervous. "Sure," Kiba waved a hand and licked a little cheese from his lip. "But I already brushed my teeth tonight. I'm not doing it again!" Tenten scoffed. "Brush your teeth? I just said to get in bed! Who gives a crack about brushing their teeth?"

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March 30th, 2006, 11:31

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"Don't you dare turn on that light, Jiraiya Hokage," A voice grunted in the darkness. Jiraiya gulped and moved his hand away from the lamp's switch with a gulp. He found his pajamas in a dresser drawer, changed in the bathroom and crawled into the bed. He poked Tsunade's shoulder three times. "Did you find that percentage you were looking for?" She grunted something like a yes, and then confirmed it with, "It wasn't fifteen like I thought...but thirteen-point-four is close enough to it. But not enough to worry about."

"Can you still get Temari that Nintendo DS thing she's been begging for?"

"..."

"Did you hear me?"

"I think she can wait another two weeks."

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Already there's a little problem? Wow. Seriously, I'm surprised at how fast this is going. Well, fast for me. If this were a "normal" story of mine I wouldn't say a thing about money problems till chapter 4. But I want to get on the road here quickly...and literally. Duh. Enjoy chapter 2, posted at about midnight. And now I'm off to bed, and as do as Lee says, "CATCH SOME Z'S AS THEY SAY!"

Ta...Storm


	3. A Nintendo DS

My brother forgot his Xbox 360...he left it in Florida right on his kitchen counter...but brought all his games...which are now worthless...So he's gotta rent a 360 for now. At least we can still play Naruto: Ultimate Ninja.

Some reviews, all pretty nice. And like I always do I will answer reviews...cause I like to and I really can't stop.

**ShadowStalkerz: **Well, I was typing it in emails so I couldn't be sure if the paragraph lengths would be the same. But I made them shorter in here, and will try to make them mostly short in generaly throughout the story. And the card game was fun to me, but probably since I thought kids just like card games. (Or maybe it's just me and my old neighborhood. We had freaking TOURNAMENTS on the street I used to live on.)

**Seguha: **Hehe, thanks for reviewing...update commence?

**Blackxheart: **Blackxheart is forgiven and given a third chapter since I labored a month for the plot and she waited a week. Here's number 3 for ya.

**RedShadows: **Thanks! Yeah, since Gaara and Sasuke ain't here now they must be somewhere in America. Hint.

**Babygaaralover: **Awesome, you say? Sweet. Yup, the Sand sibs thing. That's gonna happen…sometime. But I'll add some twist or other to it so it's not just "HOMIGAWD! We gots anodder brudder, Kanky! Koolio!" I've actually seen it done like that.

**KougaandKagomeForever: **Love it?! YES! I myself LOVE IT when someone says that! And I already considered the "after the experience" chapter. They're called Epilogues, right? Yeah, I had planned one of those. I just have to make a nice big adventure for everybody to look back on and more characters to look back on it. But yeah, I will do one of those.

Chapter the 3rd. Already!

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March 31st, 2006, 9:52 AM

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"Lemme go, Tenten!" Kankurou cried. "Aah! Hey! Get that thing away from me!"

Tenten chortled to herself as she poked her friend and brother with a particularly sharp knife. Across the enormously long dining table, still clad in worn PJs Shikamaru watched them, absently putting pieces of scrambled eggs into his mouth, missing, and snorting as one piece went up his nose and another in his eye. Sakura and Kiba were play-fighting with their spoons, and Temari and Hinata were innocently eating cereal. All the others were still too sleepy to eat much breakfast. After all they'd secretly stayed up much later than they were allowed.

Jiraiya, who was usually at home because of his "special" job, was the only adult at the table. His wife and sister-in-law had gone to work around eight in the morning, when the kids were still snoozing sweetly in their beds. He poked at the sausage he'd made, tasty but not enough to wake him up as much as some good coffee would. Damn those women for not leaving him any coffee! Damn himself for not knowing how to work the coffee maker.

He groaned and yawned, and forced down the orange juice, hoping it would awaken him. In about forty-five minutes, most of the children would be dressed and wide awake for the day, running and yelling around the house and it'd be his job to force them to play outside and leave them alone so he could write the next installment of his erotica series.

Hinata was first to leave the table. She rinsed out her bowl until it was decently clean, and set it on the counter by the sink so that it would be ready for the dishwasher later. Shikamaru and Shino were done next, and eventually everyone had rinsed out their dishes and set them on the counter. Only Jiraiya was left, as he had fallen asleep with his face in his sausage patties.

Temari was able to screech at the others enough to motivate them to get dressed and Tenten was kind enough to encourage everyone, by suggestive poking with her sharpest and shiniest of "toys", to brush their hair and teeth. Within the hour, they were all spread around the house, playing tag, watching TV, rollerblading in the street, or playing video games. Jiraiya was still asleep with his face in his food. No one disturbed him.

Hinata, after getting dressed and brushing her hair, sat quietly in the room she shared with Kiba and Sakura, absently poking a small set of wind chimes that hung over her bed. They were a simple set: a horizontal brown bar holding up a set of silver tubes that hung vertically down. The first was long and they grew shorter till the shortest ending chime. The chimes were a gift from last Christmas, from Tsunade, and she adored them. Unfortunately she couldn't hear their soft sound because it was drowned out by her roommates, busy playing Sly Cooper on the PS2 they shared. Kiba was playing currently, playing a "Simon Says" game with a witch-like alligator.

"Circle! Circle! Square! Square!" Sakura shouted to him, pounding her small hands on the carpet. "Gaah! We're never gonna pass..." Kiba grudgingly handed the thing over and watched Sakura attempt to handle the boss fight and she was about at the point at which he'd lost a life when Kankurou came in. He was wearing his usual black shirt and pants, the typical intricate pattern of face-paint, and an odd hat he always wore that appeared to have ears sewn into it.

"This game again?" He asked, mostly to himself. "You guys have had that for weeks! How long does it take you to being a freaking video game?" Kiba gave a snort but nobody really answered. He sat down next to Hinata and watched as Sakura lost the boss fight and slapped her hand over her face. They were unaware of Tsunade's growing troubles, and so played on blissfully.

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April 4th, 2006, 7:30 AM

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It was Monday again, time to go back to school. 7:30 AM. Shizune had just left for work and Tsunade was up getting ready. Jiraiya was asleep. However, the children were already up and at it...to an extent. For them, it was time to eat breakfast and get to the bus stop. A few of the kids tried to skip school by staying in bed and faking death. But, of course Temari forced them out with a few threats and soon after had employed Tenten, her personal helper, in getting everyone ready to go that morning, military style.

Temari watched with approval while she sat on the arm of the couch, fully dressed in worn-out jeans and an old striped T-shirt, watching the two girls herd everyone, fully dressed, fed, three-quarters awake and clad in backpacks and schoolbags, down the stairs. Tenten was holding a favorite pocketknife complete with lockpick, and they slashed their weapons in the air, commanding less slouching and no complaints whatsoever. Tenten began an "army" sort of chant. "_I don't know but I've been told!"_

"I don't know but I've been told!"

_"Hotwheels cars are separately sold!"_

Before the other kids could repeat the verse, Temari held up a hand to halt them before her. "About..._face!" _Everyone but Shikamaru and Ino turned around to face the threshold to the kitchen, and beyond the kitchen, the back door to the backyard. "Okay, I'm not gonna be late, y'hear?" Temari snapped. "Mr. Vauhn is damn _lethal _with detention and I'm _not _getting it! 'Specially not for being late cause of my little siblings!"

Ino, rather bored, flicked her hair and decided to poke and prod Sakura again. She gave a proud laugh. "So, little Sakura, are you into guys yet? 'Cause if you are I bet you can get a date to the school dan--OH, silly me, I just FOR-GOT! Sakurasuglyasafrog nyaaah!"

"There's way too much _early _and _Monday morning _in my atmosphere to bitch it out with you right now, Ino." one very sleepy Sakura growled.

"Maybe my hottie friend Zaku can help wake you up when we get to school. You don't know Zaku? Is your head in the sand or something? Of course Zaku's a sevvie--he's got such the hots for me, you couldn't even guess! 'Course I wouldn't really go out with someone like him. I think he's already smoking. Ugh! Oh, by the way, he's said he's seen you around the school halls a lot. Thinks you'd be good meat for a fight one day. Think you can fight Zaku, half-pint?"

"Any day of the year." The pinkette growled sleepily again.

"Ha!I'll bring popcorn that day!"

"It's not, and you better bring popcorn, Ino."

"I'll start counting the days, shorty!"

Temari had had enough. "GET TO FREAKING BUS STOP!"

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April 4th, 7:59 AM

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Westmill Middle School wasn't a bad school. In fact, it was a damn nice one.

It's mascot was a blue falcon called Fisher. It taught grades sixth, seven and eight, and for that year kept all the Hokage children in one school, together. Not only did they see each other almost all the time, but most of them ate lunch together from time to time. The school was made up of two buildings connected with a huge hallway. It was two stories tall, with most sixth grade classes on the ground level, most of the eighth grade classes on the upper floor, and seventh grade classes spread through both.

The Hokage children loaded off the bus with all the others, chattering and laughing while they still could before being quieted down in their first class. Chouji closed his locker, sneaking a little plastic pack of Pringles into his pocket to let him live through 1st period. Coincidentally, Chouji and Sakura had the exact same schedule and went to every single class together along with their friends. Chouji waited to Sakura to find the gigantic binder that contained notes and papers from all her classes.

Smiling as she dug out the binder and an Artemis Fowl novel from the pile of books at the bottom of her locker, Sakura shut the metal door and walked with Chouji up the stairs to the large, echoing gym. It sucked to have gym first thing in the morning every day, but they dealt with it by having a small class of only sixteen kids total, and therefore had less headache.

Thankfully, that morning, Mr. Shodai, their gym teacher, an outgoing brunette man, had only a projector-movie to show them about eating healthy.

It was a boring movie, truth be told but Mr. Shodai didn't have anything to do with showing it to them. He himself looked bored out of his mind, sitting on the cold floor several feet behind the kids. If it were a regular day, he would be introducing them to playing hockey, as the curriculum instructed him to do in early April. Most everyone looked forward to hockey, but on a Monday when every kid was still tired and in a weekend mood, this was probably better. When the movie had ended, and Chouji had taken the liberty of waking up Mr. Shodai by shouting in his ear, everyone had been given the homework of eating their vegetables for dinner that night.

Mr. Shodai dismissed them when the bell rang and Chouji and Sakura met up in the hall with Naruto Uzumaki, a friend of theirs. He was a cheerful blonde boy who loved to hug Hinata, Sakura and even Jiraiya whenever he could. Why? It was not known. But he was a true friend, ever since he met the Hokage family around second grade. His mother had died giving birth to him, and his father, for whatever reason always called Yondaime, had grown a bit protective, so they shared a close bond.

Together, the three went down the stairs and found their assigned seats in the front corner of the room where Mr. Nidaime taught math. He was a white-haired man with serious brown eyes with two tattoo-like stripes etched onto his face. He always enjoyed wearing fur coats, and though looked like a mean man, was actually a helpful and gentle person, extremely contrary to the way his face typically looked.

When the bell rang and he found his students sitting in their correct seats with no talking whatsoever, he looked at them all suspiciously. Mr. Nidaime laced his hands loosely together in front of his chest and asked his suspiciously quiet students, "What's wrong with you guys? Did they kill Kenny?" Most of the kids chuckled.

Chouji burped.

"Ah, there it is! I can't stand a place without any sound. It's just the most annoying thing. Now, I'll pass out your warm-up paper for the week and then I'll get to dividing fractions. You know the drill, don't lose the paper or I'll have to break your fingers. But if you can remember how to multiply fractions you should be okay." Sakura watched as Naruto stared with confusion at the problems showing on the paper before him.

3/5 x 5/6

It was actually perfectly easy.

But Naruto was Naruto. He'd never get it.

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April 4th, 2:56

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"Another day, another donut..."

"If _only _we got a donut every day for coming to school! Oh, baby!"

"Another day, five more homework sheets."

"Another month...summer vacation."

"Are we gonna make it?"

"God knows."

Shino opened Westmill's front doors for them and the other ten kids filed out and walked down the school sidewalk, to bus number 65. Their bus was usually in front of the other buses in the line, which was good, because one could never guess how long a red light would last on any road, and it was best not to have five other huge school buses in front of you. Shikamaru boarded it first, having been pushed up to the front by his friends. He trudged slowly up the steps, waved a polite greeting to their bus driver, Katia, whom the bus-riding kids all adored, and found a seat second to the front.

Ino sat next to him, and across from them Kiba and Hinata sat together. In front of them, in the very front seat just behind Katia's driving chair, Sakura plopped down, and across from her Shino and Lee sat. The others all moved to the middle and the back of the bus, which had much space, for no matter how late the kids came out of the building, it would never be that full. Their bus only had five stops, after all.

Sakura turned away to talk to Katia, as she often did, and Kiba and Hinata pulled out their textbooks and notebooks to do their math homework. They had the same teacher, Mr. Nidaime, but had that class at different times so were not together. Hinata, a natural math whiz, had already finished half of the work in class. Kiba sat amazed at how in the hell anyone could divide fractions that fast.

Ino pulled out her science notebook and began sketching a kitten on it. Shikamaru appeared to go to sleep next to her. Shino took to looking out the window, lost in thought, and Lee was beginning to meditate, preparing for the karate lesson he had that afternoon. Kiba reached over the aisle and across Lee to tap Shino on the shoulder. The tall boy in the coat turned his head slowly and said, "Yeah?" Kiba looked anxiously at the work he'd written on the notebook's page.

"You're good at math, Shino. Hinata said most of my stuff was wrong. Can ya check?" Without even taking the notebook into his hands, Shino said flatly, "Jesus Christ, you suck. But number four's okay."

Kiba slumped back to his seat and pressed his head against the seat in front of him. "I hate math." He deadpanned. "I like Mr. Nidaime and stuff, but why does he make stuff so everyone can do it but _me_? I like Ms. Rhia better. I actually know stuff in that class!"

Ino clapped her notebook shut with a loud snap. "Why are you guys talking about that old buzzard?" Ino asked boredly. "She's the sixth grade _English _teacher. That subject is so boring! _History _is what's really cool!"

"You just like Mr. Asuma." Sakura playfully grinned and poked Ino's arm. Ino brushed the small hand away. "Please! I do not 'like' Mr. Asuma. I don't expect a loveless child like you to understand this adult concept, _comprende_?" Sakura only scoffed.

Kiba stopped doing his math, fed up with it, and stuffed the notebook and textbook into his backpack. "Mr. Asuma's engaged, remember?" Sakura said. "He's had a fiancee since November. Don't you remember him saying that before Thanksgiving break? A lady named Kurenai, from Boston?"

"Well, we'll just see about that, half-pint! Engagements can be broken, FYI!"

"I bet ten bucks Mr. Asuma will marry that Kurenai lady!"

"You're on!"

"Gimme ten bucks."

"You think I'm stupid, pink-face?!"

"YES!"

Ino reached across the aisle and grasped Sakura's hair, pulling at a thick, pink strand. Ino gave a triumphant smirk as her younger sister gave a yelp of pain. She retaliated by nabbing Ino's notebook. Ino gasped and pulled harder at Sakura's hair. "Give that back!" Sakura only grinned, but keeping the notebook behind her where Ino couldn't reach it. Before the bus had even left school grounds, the two were fighting full-scale with hair-pulling, name-calling, scratching, head-butting and kicking.

Busdriver Katia Links, looked in the mirror above her and saw the skinny blonde girl, Ino, smashing her fist onto Sakura's head. Sakura, laughing, pulled at Ino's hair and the two girls' feet thrashed against each other. Katia smiled and tried not to laugh. She'd give them a minute before telling them to cool off. Kiba was laughing his poor head off, and Hinata was hiding her head in her hands. Probably laughing, too, but not wanting to show it. Shino shook his head, Shikamaru slept, and Lee still meditated.

Well, it was Monday after all.

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April 4th, 7:49 PM

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Lee's face was the epitome of concentration. The apocalypse wouldn't disturb him now! Sakura, several feet away from him had her knees bent and arms tensed, ready to be bombarded with kicks and who knew what else. Her big green eyes darted everywhere, whereas Lee's perfect black eyes focused right on Sakura's face. Lee had to be the master of all things martial artsy.

No telling where he'd attack from. God only knew why Lee picked out Sakura, of all his siblings and friends, to be a sparring partner. Why not Tenten? She was even hardier than Sakura, and twice as confident in fighting him. And Temari! Why not Temari? Temari was a freaking--

WHOOSH

Lee's bandaged-over fist zipped over Sakura's face, giving just the amount of time to duck and only feel it brush against her hair. Without a thought, she rammed both her fists upwards into Lee's elbow. An echoing crack resounded throughout the backyard and he staggered and scraped his leg against the garden rocks, but Lee didn't seem to care, even if it had hurt him. He outstretched his leg and swept it clear under Sakura's ankles. Her feet collapsed under her, and as she fell, Lee twisted around and used the back of his arm to thwack her in the side. Sakura's breath was knocked out when she landed. Lee had won.

Knowing he was the victor, he jumped up from his prepared karate pose and began dancing around the backyard, somersaulting and leaping over the grass. "Yes! My posture is nearing perfection and my backflips are timed as best to my ability as can be! No, farther!" Rock Lee laughed as hard as his lungs would permit. "The best they can be! Sakura, thank you for being my sparring partner tonight! What can I do in return, sis?"

"Gaaah! Ahh! A...little...explanation would be nice!" She hissed through the pain in her back and neck. "How the heck did you do that! That was so cool, Lee! I wanna try it!"

Before Lee could sit down and educate his baby sister on the basics of karate, there was--"Lee! Sakura! Dinner! Jiraiya brought lots of McDonald's stuff!" Shizune called from the back door. They both looked, saw her standing there, and through the double glass doors behind her they could see that Kiba, Chouji and Tenten were setting white and red paper bags onto the kitchen table. McDonald's for sure! "Do you two want your fries? Chouji thought that--"

As soon as she saw the grass stains and bruises on the clothes of the two kids, she rushed over to them immediately. "Lee, what do you think you're doing? Take those bandages off your arm, boy! Right now! Oh, and your perfect sweatpants!" Shizune traced the highly visible grass stains on Lee's nearly-new red sweatpants. The kids gave her time to go off on a sufficient tirade about danger and bruises and children hurting themselves when Sakura eventually chimed in, "I told him I wanted to do it, y'know."

"She's right!" Lee agreed. "I asked Sakura to spar with me, and she agreed and--"

"Lee, that's no excuse!" Shizune put a finger in his face. "You both could have gotten worse than a stain and a bruise!"

"But he just asked if we could spar before dinner and I said yes! And it was fun, too!" They both put an arm around the other's shoulder, standing their ground. Shizune stared at them angrily for several minutes before letting out a deep sigh and scratching her head with both hands. "Augh...fine! But if I catch this again, you know what I can do! Sakura, no Sly Cooper!"

"WHAT?!"

"And Lee, no karate class."

"OH MY GOD!"

"Dinnertime, you two. And I'm not helping you if Chouji ate your fries already."

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April 4th, 2006, 7:53

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"So Sakura and Chouji, you're taking German next year?"

"I guess. Maybe French."

"And Ino, Shino and Shikamaru will be taking Spanish?"

"Mm-hmm!"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"And everyone else'll be in French, I suppose?" Jiraiya asked. The remaining kids nodded. The sixth graders were glad that their teachers had told them to fill out their 7th grade class sheet just before the end-of-school bell had rung. Lee was becoming quite the Frenchman in his French class, and Tenten Kankurou shared a German class together.

"We're not gonna help cheat you guys on your homework." Tenten pointed a very sharp and threatening french fry towards Sakura and Chouji. "As much as I like German, I'm not gonna cheat. Cheating is not the German way, ja!"

"Finally, you'll be doing something I like," Kankurou smiled, completely ignoring her. "I'll help you with your homework if you want." He cried out as a french fry was jabbed into his eyeball. Kiba snickered and Shino slapped him upside the head for being rude. Temari grinned at them all while Shikamaru began falling asleep over his cheeseburger.

"Can I bring up a topic or something?" Tsunade broke in. Everyone turned to look at her, slouched in her chair at the end of the table. "Temari, this is about the DS that you wanted."

"My Nintendo DS! Sit down and _shut up_!"

Everyone was quiet while Temari looked anxiously at Tsunade. "You don't have to clamp everyone's jaws, Temari...it's not the best news." The blonde girl's face didn't falter, so she continued, "Some people are moving out of Casper, and they're taking their money with them. That means my employees get a little less in their paycheck. Including me, the manager." Temari's face still looked hopeful and anxious. "Four accounts have been removed, and the people who withdrew the accounts had quite a bit of cash in them. So paychecks got lowered for the next month. I don't think you'll be getting your DS until sometime in May or June."

Temari's hope balloon was popped and her face took on a look of true sorrow. Ino put her hands on her face and tried to keep from crying for Temari. Sakura, Hinata, Shino and Chouji all looked crestfallen and the others looked at her, unsure of how this would affect her. Temari had been patiently waiting for her DS for months. She looked down at her quarter pounder, and this time even Chouji didn't dare try to ask for it. Kiba, diagonally across from Temari, asked quietly, "You...wanna play Sly Cooper with me?"

"No thanks." Temari answered. She sighed and picked up the burger and continued to eat it, while she slowly and unsuccessfully tried to drain the sorrow from her face. The others continued eating.

Kiba looked to Sakura, and they shared a sort of message, concerning her video game. It was one of the most fun games they'd ever played. Even Temari would want to play it every now and again. But turning it down in that tone...they both could feel her disappointment. Everyone could. Still, they managed to pick up conversation again, talking about the pro's and con's of learning a foreign language.

Temari felt depressed now, yes. But she wasn't destroyed. In another month, she'd be playing her DS. And while she was waiting, she might as well use some allowance to buy a game or two for it... Hm...great idea! When Temari's confident and slightly smug smile returned everyone noticed and the mood rose to a sweet contentedness. The conversation wasn't forced, and they laughed because things were actually ridiculous or funny, not to cheer Temari. Tsunade looked at her husband, sister, and kids all having a nice time eating.

She smiled, finding that her chicken selects were tasting a bit better. Some little problem with the bank could never take these times away.

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...Oh how terribly wrong she is.

This chapter seriously feels like some kind of filler...but it's needed. I can't have them running away from home in chapter 3. I worked on this for almost a week, editing stuff and taking some things out that just wasted writing time and space. This took awhile, since my brother is here for a Christmas visit and he's got a bunch of 360 games. I was watching him Gears of War for awhile and my cousins came over to see him and I can barely get online when they're here (it's rude, y'see...) So I'm sorry.

Also. Sly Cooper is SO MUCH FUN.

Happy Close-to-(Merry)-Christmas

Ta...Storm


	4. Curse Cash

MERRY CHRISTMAS, READERS!

Yes, I must say that. T'is Christmas Eve! I have 16 other relatives coming for dinner tonight and I only got 5 of them presents. Oy vey. My fingers are crossed for a certain few movies n' books. And a Hershey's chocolate Santa. Mmmmmmm.

**Reviews: **

**sakuraharuno-cherryblossom: **indeed.

**Blackxheart: **'Course you've been forgiven. Yes, people can be damn stupid...but that can make 'em more annoying. I always wanted to see a Lee-Sakura fight, and even though Lee would almost surely win, it would be something cool to see, since he likes her and all. Yes, Sasuke will be here. I say that since it's not really a spoiler. But he's not coming right away, I'll say that.

**lily: **Real drama? Hmm...soon.

**seguha: **: )

**KogaAndKagomeForever: **Hehe. I won't make you into an Ino hater, but be warned she's gonna get bashed a bit. I don't hate her, I just like Sakura so much more. I don't take it offensively, don't worry. But I probably described the attack wrong anyway. I think I forgot that second upward kick. (ARGH) Yes, you described Shikamaru. I guess Kiba could be described as "I'm-smart,-I-just-have-occasional-brain-shrinkage."

Merry Christmas.

**!...Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen...! **

Chapter the 4th.

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April 5th, 2006, 10:47

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_'And the answer is...five-sixths? Really?' _

Sakura folded up the piece of notebook paper, on which was yesterday's math homework, and set it neatly in a cloth pocket in her Take-It-Everywhere binder. Chouji, sitting at the table next to her, was reading his cookbook diligently, not looking at his friend or anyone in the room. Sakura reached under her desk for her Artemis Fowl book, flipped to the page number she last remembered, as she found bookmarks to be annoying, and continued reading. Sakura found her page and continued reading on about a troll that the fairies had let free into the mansion to kill Artemis. She was just getting into an actiony, interesting section when someone jabbed her in the arm with a pencil.

"Psst! Sakura! You got Mr. Nidaime for math class?"

Poking her with an unsharpened pencil from his seat across the table was Dosu. This boy in particular seemed to have a large ego, and assumed himself above all others in his grade. Despite the bandages he wore on his face because of a recent car accident, he still retained popularity that kept his ego constantly fueled.

Dosu continued poking her with the pencil, whispering annoying words to try and get her attention. She focused hard on the novel while the boy leaned over his desk, which made up a fourth of the table, and halfway onto hers. Dosy was rather tall for his age, and it was a wonder for a new person to find out he had never been held back a year. "Hey...hey! C'mon, look over here! Sakura. Pinky? Shorty...Snoopy?"

Sakura flopped her book down onto her desk, giving him the best "WTF" look she could manage.

"Ha, finally! Had to say _something _to get your attention. Okay, you have Mr. Nidaime for math class, right? Not Mrs. Tsunami? Are you in honors math?" She shook her head.

"So you got the dividing fractions homework from yesterday, right? Can you help me out with this? I did all of it but Ino told me half of it's wrong. Kin's out sick today and Ino's not in this class...I have math next class and I gotta get it done! Mr. Nidaime'll call my mom or something this time unless I can squeeze out a nice fib that he'll believe! And he's not gonna believe that "my snake ate it" thing this time."

"I'm not gonna do your homework for you," she whispered, so that the teacher didn't hear. "Try her instead." She nodded in the direction of Ami, a bratty, bully of a girl with a face to match, and long purple hair. She had her back to them, so they were able to see she was reading a small book with no picture on the cover, but a large title and the author's name in large letters. The text inside was tiny and went almost all the way to the edge of the pages. It was a thick, heavy and long thing. Surely a book meant for adults, or at least people who could read better than the average middle schooler. Pretending to be smart, like always. Sakura had little idea why Ami, and Dosu for that matter, were in Mrs. Rhia's advanced class. This class was an advanced one, meaning only the "gifted" children attended it. All others were in this room for an average language arts class at any other time but now.

All of a sudden Ami looked up. She glared at Sakura and stuck her tongue out, making noises and insults. Sakura glared back, tensing her fingers as tight as they would go. At certain times, her fingers seemed to gain an annoying life of their own, wanting to claw or strangle anyone that got in the way of their master. If only they weren't on school grounds...Ami would get what she always had coming to her!

Mrs. Rhia walked by at that minute, jabbed a ruler on top of Ami's head, and within the minute the girl was back to reading her thick, adult book, muttering unflattering comments about the teacher. Mrs. Rhia gave a curious look to Sakura and Dosu, leaning over their desks to get in each others' faces. Sakura plopped back into her seat right away, got her nose back into Artemis Fowl, and looked up at the teacher as innocently as possible. Mrs. Rhia, like most adults who looked at Sakura, was fooled by the sweet face. Dosu, however, got his pencil ripped away from his hands. As soon as the teacher went back to her desk and hid away the pencil, Dosu turned to Sakura and gave her a look that implied it was all her fault.

She ignored the look.

What she wouldn't give to be home right now, sleeping in...

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April 5th, 2006, 3:09 PM

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"Yes, it's a black minivan. I'm on the Internet right now...Yes, it's going to Goodwill. I planned to get a new one about this time anyway, so...well, yes. Can you email me the other paperwork, or...? You just did? Thanks again."

Shizune clicked off her cell phone and drummed her fingers at her laptop. Though there were four computers in the house, one in the basement with a printer, one laptop of Jiraiya's with a printer, her own laptop, and another, faster and "better" laptop that was always switching places between the kids, Shizune preferred to use her own. Hers was the one least likely to be nabbed by an Internet-hungry 6th grader the minute she needed to use it. She sat staring at the Internet screen and awaiting the email. Just as the empty box gained two new mails, she heard the front door opening and most of the kids coming inside.

Backpacks were dropped into the treasure chest, as she called it, (even though it was only an old wooden box that the kids seemed to like to put their backpacks in) and a few of them ran into the living room. Shizune lifted herself from her comfortable position on the living room couch and watched Kiba, Sakura, Chouji and Temari running through the room. and into the kitchen.

"Hey, hey, you guys!" She called, waving her hand to them as they tossed a football over the kitchen counter to each other. "I'm donating my minivan, guys!" Temari and Kiba stopped playing the game of catch to look at her. Kiba was hit in the chest with an oncoming pass from Chouji and fell to the floor. "What?" Temari gasped. "You're giving that thing away? What the hell for?!" Shizune raised her voice. "I'm _donating _it. You guys wouldn't get it since you're _youthful _and I doubt you're learning modern economics in middle school...but it's going to get me a tax refund! I'll get money for it either next month or next year. Besides, I almost have enough money to buy a new car."

"Get a Ford! Something Ford!" Kiba shouted, getting up and rubbing his chest. "You said we could go on a road trip this summer, right?" Chouji caught the ball as Kiba tossed it over to him and added, "Or a Pontiac Torrent!" Sakura caught it as it was thrown to her and added as well, "Any SUV that looks cool!"

"What she said!" Kankurou called as he came into the living room. "Anything big with space in the back. Or something silver."

"Something black or green."

"No little, sedan-size things!"

"Well say goodbye to the minivan now. I'm signing it away right on this email." Shikamaru plopped down on the couch to watch her type out needed information, and Shino made a seat for himself next to him.

"Shikamaru, Shino, c'mon! We need you to play!" Sakura called from the back door. "Shikamaru, please! You can be the audience if you want!" Chouji came back into the family room, flopped Shikamaru over his shoulder and hauled him out of the room. Shino followed eventually and expertly caught the football an inch from his cheek as Sakura aimed it for a painful headshot. "Pick a team, Shino: Mine or Lee's!" Shino walked to stand next to Sakura. "Have you picked a team name?" He asked. Lee jumped into the air and shouted out for the neighborhood to hear, "We are the Icebreakers, my friend!" Sakura didn't jump into the air, but let her arms fly up as she cried, "And you'll be fighting us God-freaking-zillas for the golden prize..."

"_King-size Hershey bar!" _Chouji pointed at the giant, thinly-wrapped object as Shikamaru held it above his head. The game commenced with Shikamaru keeping the candy constantly out of his reach.

666

April 26th, 2006, 8:45 PM

666

That was it.

That was _it. _

_That was fucking IT! _

'_I have had enough of this _SHIT!'

Tsunade shot up from her swivel chair and swung open her office door. She stormed into the huge, main room of the bank and stomped her feet, cursing and yelling and shouting gibberish and sailor talk. The empty place gave no response. All the employees had gone home almost an hour ago. There was no one to listen to the Green Run's manager scream out her frustration for the no-longer-residents of Casper. She screeched and shouted and slammed her fists on the soft leather chairs and even considered, and almost came low enough to start, biting the edges of the specially-polished wooden tables.

The fit of anger only lasted a good minute and a half, though. It took twice as long for Tsunade to find the basket of lollipops saved for the customers' children and finish off seven of the stick candies to calm herself down. Perhaps it was that time? Nope. Just finished that last week. PMS-ing? No, that would make no sense if she finished her cycle a week ago. Frustration and lack of stress relief? Fuck yes.

Tsunade rubbed her forehead, searching for her favorite flavor, grape, in the basket and ripping the little lollipop from it's tight plastic packaging. Why weren't there more of those? She really needed some calming, soothing sorts of items right now. Today, there had been more account losses than she could have imagined possible in a month.

Seventy-nine. Gone.

Green Run wasn't the only bank in Casper. It wasn't like every living person in the city kept their money there. About a fifth. Maybe. Statistics hadn't been checked that week yet, and weren't due to be checked till the day after tomorrow. There was a Chevy Chase somewhere around town. A Bank of America, too, probably. Wells Fargo, Citigroup--GAAH!

Why was it that no one ever saw that massive problem till it was almost too late? There was just _too much competition. _Big company names always gave competition to those old no-name banks, even bought them out sometimes, pushed them out of the market one way or the next. Now that it was becoming a problem, Tsunade could really look up and almost see those big businesses looming over her much smaller one. Hers was just too small a business. Small enough for one town to take away all the money it profited. Because it only _existed _in one town.

But that wasn't just it. No, it wasn't just that Green Run was being outdone by bigger and badder banks. No, it was also Sheila Taylor. Who knew that the kind-hearted, helpful girl could take such a dangerous chunk out of their profits? The connection only dawned on her when she saw that almost all the people withdrawing accounts were recently graduated high school students who all came from the same high school, almost all of them connected to Sheila Taylor in some way.

This one was a childhood friend going to Yale with her, this one was on the cheerleading squad with her and going to Yale with her, that one was a guy who had a crush on her and was a friend of hers from Biology class who was going to Yale with her--_every _last high school graduate in town was going to Yale with Sheila Taylor!

WHY?!

Tsunade practically collapsed into a leather chair, cracking the grape-flavored lollipop between her teeth. She'd best go home now. She was usually home by this time of night and if she was any later, Chouji, Akamaru or Jiraiya would annihilate any last chances of her catching the last of the dinner scraps. Hopefully Sheila didn't have that many more friends. Hopefully Bank of America would be too busy to look at little Green Run right now. Hopefully there was some dinner left. Hopefully it would snow 4th of July.

666

April 26th, 2006, 9:09 PM

666

Kiba flapped the book closed and wiped a tear from his eye.

Old Yeller _died? What the hell?! _That must have been the "ending" that Shino had warned Lee not to tell him about so many weeks ago. When had that happened? March? No, February. How the hell did he remember a singled-out day in February, two entire months ago? Whatever! Kiba kicked the book off the side of his bed and observed his room. Hinata and Sakura were downstairs, likely scavenging the kitchen for something to be called dessert.

Not much of anything was left in the kitchen by Friday night. Grocery Day of the Week, Saturday, was tomorrow. It was a privilege, or so the kids called it, in the Hokage family to be one of the two or three kids to go grocery shopping with one of the parents. It meant you got to pick out your own food and sneak a few treats in the cart when no one was looking.

Kiba roamed his eyes all over the walls, looking for something happy that would cheer him from the crappy ending of Old Yeller. Posters of a few bands...TV...dartboard...DVD stack...his younger sisters' drawings on the wall...Hinata's wind chimes...Where in the freaking house was hyper, shaggy, peppy Akamaru when you needed him? His gaze drifted out the window, looking at the smooth, curving branches of the oak tree outside their window and the suburban neighborhood beyond.

"Ruff-arf-arf-bark-ruff!" Akamaru came dashing into the room at that moment and leaped up onto Kiba's bed, a near-amazing feat for a dog his size. He set his chin on Kiba's chest, made himself comfortable, and let himself go limp with immediate sleep. Kiba's eyes went wide with horror and remembrance of the novel he'd just flipped away and he grasped his precious dog and shook him awake, being all too reminded of the death of poor Yeller. Within the second Akamaru was awake and yipping the question, in his own doggy language, why the hell his master was trying to hang him.

The boy's face drained of color and he flopped his head back onto his pillow, relieved.

"Shizune! Kitchen! **NOW!" **

He lifted his head, and recognized Tsunade's _now_ voice. She only used that tone when something was really, really wrong, and she was really, really angry about it. He looked down to Akamaru, staring intently at his face, and tucked him into the hood of his fur-lined jacket. He straightened his hair--one never knows when one has hood/helmet hair--and went down the hallway and stairs, going slow so that no one would hear him.

He noticed Tsunade and Shizune conversing in whispers in the corner of the room nearest to the foyer, Tenten and Kankurou sitting by the unlit fireplace and speaking German, and a few voices in the kitchen. The others were probably in their rooms or the backyard or playing around elsewhere in the neighborhood.

He took a minute to thank the TV for being on and being on a pretty high volume even though no one was watching it. It helped him be unnoticed. He shook his head in confusion as Tenten and Kankurou went on in their conversation in German, and dove into the kitchen, sneaking behind the wall so that no one would see he'd gone in. If Tsunade used her _now _voice. she expected her demands to be answered five minutes ago.

Kiba, what with the little Christmas incident two years ago, should know, of all the household residents. Oh, the poor boy's eardrums. Oh, his frightened little heart.

"No way! It's came out in theatres _yesterday?" _Kiba turned and saw Ino sitting on the kitchen counter, swinging her legs. Chouji was raiding the fridge and Hinata stood waiting by the microwave as it heated something. Kiba casually walked to the kitchen table and took a seat, putting his feet up on the table so that he looked like he was simply chilling. Akamaru jumped out of his hood and dashed to his doggy corner and started munching on his Pedigree puppy chow.

Tsunade took this moment to come into the kitchen, dragging Shizune but the sleeve of her orange blouse. Kiba practically flew out of his chair to rush over to Hinata. She had just taken a bowl out of the microwave and nearly spilled the contents as Kiba pulled her through the kitchen. Chouji, seeing the look on his adopted mother's face, took the hint and followed to two upstairs with a cold piece of blackberry pie in his hands. Ino stayed sitting on on the counter talking, oblivious of the two women. Tsunade stared down at Ino, tapping her fingers on her crossed arms. Ino paid no attention. The blonde's talking slowed to a stop, and she recognized the finger-drumming that Tsunade always used when absolutely furious. She zipped out of the kitchen and upstairs immediately.

Before Shizune could leave, her older sister had held up a hand. A sign. "You're not running off now. I need to tell you something. It's worse than last week. "

At the top of the stairs, Kankurou, Kiba, Hinata, Tenten, Ino and Chouji all stood silent with stiff legs, listening in as best they could on the converation below. Tenten gave Kankurou a pat on the back for turning off the loud TV as they went up the stairs before. Tsunade's voice was heard loud and clear. She must have thought the kids had all hidden in their rooms and shut their doors.

"I mean it this time, Shizune, it is goddamn bad! Fifty people came in today to drop accounts and we lost forty-nine."

"But shouldn't you have lost fift--"

"These two twins shared an account. Anyway, almost every last one was a high school graduate. Eighteen years old, maybe nineteen, but all of 'em about to go to Yale!" Her voice went lower as she growled in her frustration. "I totalled up the amount of money taken from those kids' accounts...and it was more than six hundred thousand dollars...all of it just swiped out of my bank!" The children hiding on the stairs gasped and their thoughts swirled worriedly.

_'Six-hundred...grand? Gone? At the same freaking time?' _

_'That's...that's...' _

_'Oh, Temari and her DS! She'll never get it now!' _

Thier mother didn't stop talking there. "It gets worse than that. As the manager, you think I'd just be able to give myself a raise, right? Save myself while my employees dwindle off into getting themselves broke and barely make enough to keep their house, right? Well, I can't! I _like _my employees, co-workers, and everyone at the bank! If I raise my own paycheck, I may as well cut my friend's house deeds into pieces! I go up, they go way, way down...and I ain't no selfish, greedy little prick like that criminal mob bastard in--"

Shizune broke her sentence with, "Don't EVEN go there! You dropped that guy years ago! Keep going about Green Run...what else happened?"

"You're right, he's not even worth wasting jaw muscles. Like I said before, as the manager, I could just give myself a raise, but if I did I'd be cutting the paychecks of the other employees straight in half. Well, guess what, Shizune? The forty-nine accounts that got dropped today were all pretty decently filled up. Sheila has some rich pals on her side, and a lot of them. Forty-nine accounts out of the several hundred or so we have...it's a lot more cash than should have been taken. Even as the manager, I can't fix the problem. I could cut the employees checks in half, sure."

"...But?"

"But it's already happened. Sheila's rich Yale friends cut everyone's paycheck in half. Mine included."

The kids ran swiftly down the hall and into the laundry room at the end of the hall, between their parents' room and the one owned by Kankurou, Chouji and Shino. Ino closed the door shut as quietly as she could with her shaking hands while Kankurou flicked off the light switch. They all sat down on the cold tiles with no light, barely seeing each other in the darkness and whispering. Tenten reached her hand over and patted Ino comfortingly on the back while she trembled. "So Tsunade's check's cut in half..." Hinata whispered, staring at the floor and fingering the hem of her sweater. "That's terrible...she's probably worried and...do you think she thinks we'll be poor now?"

"What? No!" Kankurou cried in her direction. "Come on, we got three parents who make a lot of money. This is just gonna keep us from getting a new game or toy or something for a couple weeks. A month, maybe. Learn to be patient, guys. It's just a...delay."

"Delay!" Chouji said. "Our mother's out six hundred grand! What is this _delay _of which you speak?" There was a clink as he set the piece of pie he'd been carryong on top of the washing machine. "That's like.. enough to buy a freaking house! Two, maybe."

"Besides...Shizune only works as a nurse part-time." Kiba put in worriedly. "Usually, she's at home, right? She only works half the week. And she usually comes home early, anyway. The grown-ups don't make money by getting off early. And I don't even know how much Jiraiya makes..."

"You _should._" Hinata insisted. "You told me when you f-first saw me in the window of Five Sisters Orphanage...that you were on the way back from giving a book to Jiraiya's b-book client." Kiba thought on it for a minute, and remembered the situation from years ago. He'd been only seven years old, perhaps eight, and he had begged and begged Jiraiya to take him with him next time he gave a book to a client. He'd flown in a plane with Jiraiya from some airport called Portland, Oregon, to meet a tall man with a mask on his face named Kakashi at a coffee shop.

But he'd been seven or eight years old at the time. He didn't care then how much money his dad made.

"...Yeah, that's true, and it makes sense...Jiraiya might not even sell his stuff in a store at all! Just to people who ask for it!"

"What a moron!" Kankurou snorted. "He should sell his books in a store like a real author and help Tsunade!"

Ino began crying harder and making soft, scared sounds. Tenten sighed, shaking her head, and continously tried to comfort her. The blonde shook her head wildly and her hair was tossed around. "Not the money..." She sobbed. "She...she...Tsunade sounded so angry...it _is _bad! It is!" Tenten stared at her with wide eyes. Hinata looked away and Kiba found her hand, carefully holding it so she wouldn't cry for her friend. Chouji and Kankurou did nothing. They all could easily see the truth. If Tsunade used that voice, the _now _combined with such worry, it _was _bad.

"What about Shizune's car?" Chouji said out of nowhere. Some of the others widened their eyes with confusion. "Remember? She donated it for taxes or something, right? They towed it away a couple weeks ago and Shizune said she had enough money to get a new car. What about that car money?"

"What about it?" Hinata inquired.

"Well, since we can live with just two cars...couldn't she let it go to help make up the six hundred grand?"

"Uh...How much does a car cost?" Kiba asked with a furrowed brow. "Umm..." Apparently, no one knew.

"Well, uh..." Everyone heard the sound of Kankurou scratching the side of his head. "We can think this over. We should go back to our rooms now. Tsunade wouldn't want to know that we heard her. We can't worry her any more than she is." The others murmured agreement. Kiba added, "And don't ask the grown-ups for any new stuff for awhile, guys. None of them. Shizune and Jiraiya would tell Tsunade right away, uh, probably, so..."

"We get it." Tenten confirmed with a smile. Since she was closest to the door, she reached up and opened it (nearly making Ino fall backwards) and they all covered their eyes as light from the hallway flooded in. Kiba got up first and led Hinata down the hall. The others quickly filed out casually to their rooms, pretending nothing at all had happened.

Hinata opened the door and Kiba looked over her shoulder to see Sakura and Shino standing at the other end of the room, looking out the open window. Hinata hugged her sweater tight, despite it being nearly summer, and went over to the bookshelf to find something to read and also keep herself away from the cold night air. Kiba stuffed his hands into his pockets and shuffled his feet. Shino and Sakura were both reliable. If they found out--which would probably happen soon since little escaped either of them--they wouldn't tell. He took the chance while his gut still had the guts to tell him to do it. "So, you guys heard?"

"Yeah...we did." Shino whispered. Kiba could have laughed. Whatever they were talking about, it sure wasn't-- "Tsunade's bank lost six hundred thousand dollars because of some college kids moving away."

_'...Okay, so they heard...' _He flicked himself in the face internally. "Were you listening behind us?" He asked. "Behind you?" Shino replied, perplexed. Kiba stared back, confused, but went on. "Yeah...we were, uh...at the top of the stairs, listening in on her. Were you guys behind us, just being super-quiet?" Shino shook his head. Sakura turned away from the window and quickly pointed to Hinata. Kiba and Hinata both looked up. No, she wasn't pointing at Hinata...

"The air vent behind you." The girl said. The purple-haired girl turned pushed on the carpet and whirled herself around on the caps of her knees, seeing the white, slitted plate. Of course! Hinata leaned close to it, and faintly heard Shizune whispering quietly to Tsunade. The words were so soft they couldn't be made out.

"It runs everywhere in the house." Sakura explained, scratching her short hair. "We just had to sit close to it, and we heard everything like we were downstairs next to 'em. Course, they were kinda loud." Kiba sat down near Hinata and listened to two of his parents, still conversing. The tone wasn't angry and frustrated like before. In fact, Tsunade and Shizune both sounded much more sorrowed and worried.

"Dont' tell me Green Run's failing...it's the best job I've ever had. You'd think the founder and top dog of the place would be able to save it from being pushed off the market. Oh...it's those college kids' fault. None of them want to go to a community college. If those kids weren't so fucking rich we wouldn't be in this mess. I mean it, Shizune, I've never had a problem like this before...what am I going to tell Temari? She's been aching for a DS for months and I just told her off for another month...and now I don't even know when she can buy it. I can't spare a thing till the wave of Sheila's friends lets up."

"It's fine, Tsunade. It's not like we're going to be kicked out of our own house. Hey, why don't we go grocery shopping? Right now! I know you like picking out whatever the hell you want to eat."

There was a pause. Everyone in Kiba, Hinata and Sakura's room fell silent until their mother replied, "I got cut of _half my money_ and you want me to go _shopping?"_

"We always have lots of grocery money, sis. It's right there on the fridge. You go ahead. Take some of the kids and buy the good stuff. Come back, pig out, and we'll have a great Friday night." There was a pause that made the children tremble. "I guess..."Their voices faded and footsteps were heard downstairs...in kitchen...then the living room...then coming upstairs.

Kiba ran over to his bed and jumped onto it, pretending to be falling asleep early. Sakura grabbed her stuffed black bear and began making him "fight" with another of her stuffed animals. Shino stared out the window and Hinata pretended to be busy reading a Lord of the Rings book. Both women came in the door just the moment the kids took casual poses. They all looked up and smiled. Shizune waltzed into the room and examined them carefully. The kids stared innocently back at her.

Shizune fell for their adorable act and asked them all, "Tsunade's doing groceries a day early. Shino, Kiba, you two can have a turn this time." Kiba was up in a half second. "Allright!" He rushed downstairs and Sakura dashed after, shouting a list of foods for him to remember. Shino shrugged and followed Shizune out, and Tsunade looked fondly down to Hinata, the last one left.

"You want to go, too? I'll take one more."

"Oh, uh...no, thanks. Full House is gonna be on soon, and I don't want to miss it..." Tsunade smiled patted Hinata's hair. "Allright, then. Anything you want me to get?" The child fiddled with the pages of the novel, thinking. "How about...cinnamon rolls?" She smiled and licked her lips. "Sure, I'll get those for you. I love 'em, too!" Tsunade turned on her heel and walked out of the room, looking a lot happier. Hinata clutched the thick book in her hand, hoping that her mother really felt as chipper as she had just sounded.

666

April 26th, 2006, 9:38

666

"Hey, Shino, you like chicken noodle? There's no tomato soup left--eeeeew I hate canned asparagus!"

"Those are lima beans."

"Aw, god, my nose! My poor innocent nose! I'm going to _die_!"

Kiba fell to his knees and hit the hard, cold floor in a heap while Shino merely walked nonchalantly around him to take several cans of soup from the shelf. Tsunade came around the corner and pushed their quite-full shopping cart over to her adopted sons. Shizune, who had decided to come along on the grocery trip to make sure the kids didn't overload their grocery bill, took the soup cans from Shino's hand. She set them neatly into little crevices in the cart between various other items.

She lent her hands down and pulled Kiba up by the wrists, patting his head to rid it of any dust. "What's gotten into you, Kiba? Having a migraine?"

"Aauuughhggghhh..." Kiba could only moan while his nose felt like falling off completely. Shino pointed to the lima beans behind him and Shizune understood, helping her son away from the smelly canned stuff and down towards the back of the store. Kiba wrenched himself free of her arms--as the situation could be viewed two ways, one, he was being raped, and two, his mother was strangling/hugging him to death in public and he'd rather take part in neither--and ran down the way towards the dairy aisle to clear his nose of the icky smell.

After drinking in the sweet smell of string cheese, chocolate milk and a million flavors of yogurt, Kiba began looking up and down the cold aisle for some strawberry milk. Akamaru and Sakura _loved _strawberry milk.

He went past lots of things that made him stick his tongue out for the pure _yuck _of it all and finally came across the pink and white plastic carton he was looking for. He took three quart-size cartons in his hands and started back up the way he came, to the canned foods aisle. Shikamaru, who had also come along on the grocery trip (unwillingly, of course) met him halfway there. He looked half-asleep and bored to tears. Kiba took to stepping on his foot a few times to get him back into the grocery zone. After sitting on a pile of 12-packs of soda, Shikamaru said, "Ughh...Shino told me to come get you. He wants you to see something."

_'Did he find that awesome berry crazy gum I like! Sweet, Shino! You know just the stuff to find!_

He briefly thanked Shikamaru and took off for the canned foods aisle. He swerved around an old lady and her granddaughter and used expert skating skills to slide along the smooth floor towards Shino and the cart. The women were gone from it, so Kiba freely tossed in the three milk cartons and waited for Shino to present him with his favorite flavor of gum. "You wanted me to see something?" He said while. bouncing on his toes with anxiety.

Shino nodded pushed the cart at the very edge of the canned food aisle, out of the way. He leaned over and motioned for Kiba to do the same. Kiba leaned over to peek into the next aisle and saw Shizune and Tsunade. They were standing in front of a shelf filled with packs of various sodas. Tsunade was looking up and down at the big boxes, shaking her head at all of them and Shizune looked infinitely sad.

"See them?" Shino whispered.

"Yeah. They look all...not happy."

Shino thwacked the back of his head for being so idiotic, but caught him by the hood of his jacket before he fell and alerted the mothers. Shino stared over at them. "Tsunade was pretty happy when we first left the house, right?" Kiba nodded. "Happy enough to hum along to the radio, right?" Kiba nodded. "Happy enough to all of a sudden stop being worried about the bank problem and turn chipper as a squirrel?"

"Get to the point!"

Shino swiftly turned, and even through his impenetrable shades Kiba could see the glare. "Look at them. Tsunade's searching for the lowest price on the smallest soda packs. That _is _the point. You know she'd never do that. Tsunade loves Sprite, and you know she'd just take the first giant pack she saw and go to the next aisle. Now look at her! Having to look for a low price on one of her favorite things. She was faking that happy thing. She's never stopped worrying since she's poured out that whole thing to Shizune."

Kiba looked closer. Though his vision was only average he could see the anxiety and angry thoughtfulness on her face. It was clear as day. "So...what do you wanna do about it?"

"You should take back two of those milk cartons. It would just be better."

"You want me to go back home to Akamaru and Sakura and tell 'em I only got _one _pack of strawberry milk? Shino, they'll floss their teeth with my spine!"

"Kiba."

"Shino!"

"Fine! Take _one _back. And if I see three of them at the checkout..."

"I'm goin', I'm goin'!"

Shino watched the younger brunette take a carton of milk from the carton and walk off grumbling to the dairy section. Once he was sure Kiba was out of eye and earshot, he took hold of the shopping cart and moved it down a few aisles, to make it look like he'd been browsing and not doing...anything else. He pretended to be looking at the different kinds of poptarts when both of them came down the aisle with two twelve-packs of soda. Under his shades and with his back turned to them, Shino grimaced.

Usually, they'd be getting at least two _twenty-four-_packs.

Shizune and Tsunade made small talk while arranging the food in the cart so that nothing would fall out. No matter the situation or amount of time given, the Hokage family liked to fill their shopping cart to the brim, be it filled with groceries, clothes, toys, or anything else an adult would need when living with eleven kids. The dark brunette had sense enough to put a box of randomly-selected poptarts into the cart, and walk off looking for more things. They seemed to buy the act and continued looking cheerful and grocery-happy.

Shino sighed internally as he got farther away to the end of the aisle. May as well make it look like he knew nothing, he figured. You never know when adults are at your tail. He could still hear them talking from his position. Still patchy-voiced and ragged.

He should get the other kids to help...

666

END LONG CHAPTER!

Or it seemed long. Started it a bit before Christmas and here I am, finishing it a half hour after they dropped the Crystal Ball at Time's Square. Hello, '07! (The first thing I said was, "Welcome, Naruto Shippuden!") This chapter seemed dramatic and cheesy to me, but, no duh, needs to be here. I have a habit of making stories go slow, like in BWOMS, but I consider this story to be rushed. If you think it's boring, then you should know that_ it could be worse! _Next chapter should be important, too. Like, big important.

I know you usually wouldn't go grocery shopping at 9 PM at night, but it's not a typical family here. I think I repeated a couple other things, but I can't really remember and I'm starting to wind down for the night now. So, since Christmas and New Year's have both officially passed...have a happy New Year.

Ta...Storm (Who wishes everyone a Happy New Year...and also welcomes Naruto: Shippuden!)


	5. Damn Old Van

I GOT OUT OF SCHOOL EARLY, YAHOO!

It's true, it's true! School really does let out early sometimes even though it's so incredibly rare! It was wet this morning, and everything had frost on the rims, and during 3rd period the history teacher reads her email and yells out that school's letting out early! I skipped a big math test and another agonizing day of PE because of a good ol' January snowfall! I was listening to my iPOD on full blast the whole bus ride while watching the snow out the window. Good, sweet, school-cancelling snow. Even better because it's goddamn _Friday. _

And watching National Treasure in celebrations of school cancellation was good, too. Makes you believe you actually _can_ steal that damn Declaration. Onward with reviews, since I can guess you just want the read the goddamn story. You may have the honor to know that I am typing this chapter because I got inspired by watching National Treasure and The Rugrats movie. (Yes, I like the Rugrats Movie. It's cool. It's always been cool.)

**Reviews: **

**KougaAndKagomeForever: **Yes. I hate Ino with a passion. About 97 I would say. The other three percent grudgingly thanks Ino for helping Sakura become who she is. **Most of the Hokage kids are 12, not 8 or 9. **That's perhaps a half a year younger than everyone is at the start of the real series. I can't stomach an 8-year-old seeing an R-rated movie. Yes, she'll get a once-in-a-while intelligent or nice moment but not that often. Yes, I pretty much said the same thing to you in a PM. But I said it again since sometimes those things don't go through. And about me eventually stopping my being an Ino hater...I sure as hell don't expect it either.

**Redshadows: **Dramatic...yeah I guess that's how we could say it. I liked that line, too, even though it somehow sounds gangster to me. Sure, I know the drill. The drill says to update soon and I hope this counts as "soon."

**animekidd675: **Thanks, seriously! Your beg has been acknowledged and responded to. SLY COOPER ROCKS ALL SOCKS!

**sakuraharuno-cherryblossom:** Yeah, ain't it?

**lily: **Mm-hmm!

**Blackxheart: **I wondered where you went. Internet can suck so bad sometimes. I'm not exactly sure when Sasuke will show up...not for 3 or 4 chapters...at least. I really don't know. I don't plan stories so specifically.

Chapter the 5th.

666

May 2nd, 2006, 4:55

666

It was your average Wednesday. Ino had bought a new compact for herself, Lee was doing his Wednesday afternoon meditation, Shino was sitting on the porch in the front yard, watching the oh-so-interesting bugs, and Temari was staying after school to apply for the school play. All others were...doing homework in the kitchen, unfortunately. It was just some day, with air between cool and warm and a sky between grey and partly cloudy. It was, of course, just some average day...

Except, of course, Chouji turned 13 yesterday.

"WOO-HOO! I'M A TEENAGER, OH YEAH, BABY!"

Chouji slid into the kitchen in clean socks and new clothes, ice skating on the perfectly smooth tile floor in a dancing pose. He cried out obscenities and terrible sex jokes, (as there were no adults home right now) for becoming a true teenager, and skated around the kitchen in his new shirt on and new shoes in his hands. The shirt was showing a blue, cracked skull on a red background. He tossed the shoes into the air and caught them and tossed them up again, whooping for his luck. Tsunade had bought him the shirt, and Jiraiya had bought him the new shoes, two bone-white Sketchers with black laces.

The other kids had gotten him small gifts, mostly foods. His favorite candies, treats and a promise of getting an extra few choices next grocery day. A few had even gotten him CDs for the CD player he shared with Shino and Shikamaru. (Though those two never used it anyway.) Chouji was happy as hell with his new, intense-looking shirt, brand-new shoes, fresh off the store rack CDs and ripe for da pickin' candy.

"EAT MY DUST, SHINO! I'M OLDER! I AM THE _KING_!"

Kiba, Sakura, Tenten and Kankurou had burned their faces red and gotten close to suffocation from laughing at him. Chouji to continued to create dance moves on the spot and sing along to songs as though they were pounding right in his ears. Shino sighed and continued his homework, scarcely paying attention to his old friend. Chouji was the oldest of the three of them, meaning Chouji, Shikamaru and Shino, who were close as peas in a pod. He was a year older than an average sixth grader, but no one really cared, exluding a few of the teachers at Westmill, who secretly thought he went to Preschool a year late.

"Now all I need is an iPOD and a bad attitude and I'll be set!"

"I've give ya Temari's, but...b-but..." Tenten's face broke and she started laughing again. Chouji was completely oblivious and skated out of the room, choosing to run around the living room instead and nearly step on Akamaru as he went. Ino giggled as she watched him attempt a cartwheel. "He's being such an idiot! If he's thirteen now he should ask a girl out!" Kiba turned his head up from his history homework to look at her. "Is that what _you'd _do, Ino?"

The girl looked absolutely apalled and glared at him. "No way, you moron! First, I'd get a cell phone! Then...Then I'd ask out Zaku or that new French boy who's in my study hall...!" Kiba sighed. He had that class with Ino and had seen the new French kid. He was a stick-skinny blonde with an evil grin and perfect grades, which made him more confusing than he looked, especially in study hall class, where he seemed to smile the most.

She put her hands on her cheeks and squealed. "I've never _seen _hair like his! It's so, so...just wonderful! Almost as good as mine! If only I had a cell to call him with...I hope I get one when _I _turn thirteen!"

"Why not just use the phone right there?" Kankurou pointed to the big grey phone sitting by the fridge. Ino waved her hand and scoffed at the thing. "That big piece of junk? Hell no! I need a cute little cell that I can take everywhere. I'll talk to Tayuya and Kin and Zaku all the time and call everybody else, too! Even that boy who always gets detention...what's his name?"

"Sai." Sakura said quickly, scribbling science notes into a spiral notebook.

Ino fumed. "How would _you _know his name? He flirts with me almost once a week, and I would know!"

"I know 'cause he hates my guts." She replied flatly. "The school doesnt' even seperate lockers by grades. A sixth grader could have a locker right next door to an eighth grader and it doesn't even matter! His locker is just down the hall from mine. First week of school, I bumped into him and accidentally made him drop his books. I tried to help pick 'em up, but he wouldn't let me. Ever since then I've been seeing him in the halls between classes. He always glares at me and twice last month he gave me the finger."

"Whoa, really?" Kankurou's head snapped to look at her so fast that his black, oddly-shaped hat nearly fell off. Kiba leaned over the table with a grin. "Did you give it back?"

"Give it back?" Sakura exclaimed. "I gave _two _back."

"A'ight! You're growin' up!" Kankurou patted her on the back.

"I've seen that boy, too." Lee whispered, tapping his chin. "I went to the gym to give Mr. Shodai a note from Mrs. Fritz. Sai was playing volleyball with the other boys in that class. He jumped and spiked that ball so very hard it hit another kid in the head and pounded him into the floor!" Shikamaru whistled from the other side of the table. "Hard-hitter?" Lee nodded and closed his eyes. "Very!" Ino had had enough. She slammed her fists onto the table and cried, "Pick up another topic already! I've had enough of you guys putting down my Sai!"

"You going for older men now?" Kankurou teased. "He's a year older than you. In _my_ grade. 7th!" The blonde girl stared at him, unblinking. "I don't care if he's a kindergardener! He's one of the most athletic, heart-stopping--"

Kankurou interrupted the mumbling of others. "I think you should stick with dudes in your own grade. You really want a boy who's giving the finger to an innocent little sixth grader?"

"An innocent little sixth grader?" Sakura repeated indignantly. "Yeah, an innocent little sixth grader who gave it back twofold!" The older boy put his hand in front of her face and she spoke no more. "Plus, how would Tsunade feel if she found out? Every parent who has a kid in that school knows about the guy. He pulls pranks with his buddies on the teachers, he plays hooky, and I heard he even once cussed out a substitute. Almost got expelled." Kiba nearly choked on his glass of sweet lemonade.

"That cussing part is practically the best part!" Ino cried. "How can you not be interested in someone so _bad_?"

"Because you shouldn't care about these things till high school," Chouji said in a prompt and textbook-like manner, "and if Tsunade saw that guy near you..." Tsunade was the most caring and protective mother they'd ever seen and with her came the occasional hellish temper tantrum. "She'd what?" Kiba pressed. "She'd...she'd..."

"Give up on Ino like we did?"

"No, Kiba, not for her life."

"Shoot Sai's parents?"

"Sakura, you and Naruto stop playing Halo."

"It's not my fault he invites me over to his house to play it all the time. He's got a billion games and his dad's the coolest guy ever."

"I know what Mr. Yondaime is like, I know he's cool...he's been a substitute teacher before."

"I know what she'd do!" Chouji waved his arms and almost spilled the bowl of Cheez-Its he'd brought to the table just then. "I know, I know! She'd put Ino in a private boarding school so he doesn't influence her, right?" Kankurou gave him a thumbs-up and a weary smile. "That's as close a guess as we're gonna get. I put a buck on that." Kankurou noticed at Kiba scribbled down Kankurou's words on a piece of paper. "What if Sai had Mr. Nidaime for math last year?" Kiba inquired as he finished writing his note. Sakura chuckled. "If he had Mr. Nidaime before, he would still be in sixth grade!"

Even Ino laughed at that. Tenten added, "He sure would have! I remember when I was in sixth grade last year...I had him last class of the day and he'd always be telling us to write neatly and stop fidgeting or he'd tie our shoe laces together so we couldn't leave school." She laughed. "He's a nice guy but when you get on his bad side--He's just not the guy the screw with, y'know? I failed two tests in a row last year and he almost called Shizune about it! And he had the phone right next to me, too. It was torture!" Chouji snickered at her.

"It's not funny! I could've been grounded for a month for that and I begged and begged and just before the message machine came on, he hung up. Shizune never saw those two F grades and I'm a B+ average math student now." Sakura raised both brows. "So you lied to Shizune. Sweet, Tenten! Ino can't call you a goody-two-shoes now!"

"Shut _up, _shorty!"

Tenten closed her eyes, waving off the comment, crossed her arms and leaned against the back of the chair, looking pretty cool and relaxed. "Well, once in a while, it's okay to fib a little. Everyone does, everyone's gotta." Just then they all heard the front door opening and slamming.

"SCREW THAT PLAY! I GOT BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN SPEND EXTRA TIME IN GODFUCKED SCHOOL!"

"Temari's home." Shikamaru intelligently observed.

"_Wow, _Shikamaru. You are some kind of _sorceror_."

Temari stomped into the kitchen, dragging her heavy-looking red backpack. Her face was a bit brighter than normal, signaling she was likely wearing blush, and her usual four pigtails were in a single high ponytail on the top of her head. Instead of her typical old T-shirt and patchy jeans, she wore a pink, slitted skirt that barely went down to her knees, with a white turtleneck sweater and some kind of jeweled bracelet on her left wrist. She tore off the bracelet and tossed it down to the kitchen floor.

Akamaru leapt into the kitchen from behind her, snatched up the bracelet in his mouth and ran off with a wagging tail. Temari groaned and growled in what was likely anger, and grasped a paper towel to wipe her face free of makeup. She swiftly turned to look at all the other kids, who stared back. "What?!"

"What the hell are you wearing?" Tenten exclaimed. "That's...that's like Ino's clothes. Where's those crappy jeans you always have?"

"Backpack." She picked up the heavy thing and hugged it close. "I gotta get outta these clothes. Take a shower, too. I smell like a lavender rain shower."

"What are you saying?" Ino cried, getting up and walking around Ino to stare admiringly at her clothes. "Lavender rain shower? Temari, you're out of your mind! This is the best outift I ever saw you in, sis! You should wear it more often. DO you have more things like it in your closet? I can buy you some if you don't. I got a little money left from allowance last month and...!"

"Just _stop, _Ino!" Temari yelled. "If you like these clothes, then _you _can wear 'em. These are the costumes and I ran outta the building before I even took 'em off. This is the kind of thing I would move to Poland to avoid. It's the goddamned school play and it's fucked-up costumes. Guess what it is, guys. It's a _high school drama. _I thought it was a sports show, and I stayed after school to audition for a sports play with team conflict and tight action, but no! It turned out to be a Disney-Channel high school fucking _drama_!"

She ripped and clawed at her hair until it was all hanging down her back in a bunched heap. She dug around a pocket in the skirt until she found four thick, black hairbands. She took an incredibly short time to wind it back into her typical, unusual quad-style and when she was finished she looked as happy and tight as a clam. "Aw, come on! That was a really cute style for you...here, let me help you put it back." Temari sidestepped and grabbed her backpack and skipped to the other side of the kitchen. "No way in hell, girl. My hair's staying like this till the day I die. If anybody touches it, even Shizune, I'll cut their hands off!"

"True dat."

"I should know."

"We understand, ma'am!"

"But _why? _It looked so much better before when it was--"

"Like yours?"

"Yeah!"

Temari sighed as she found a green apple in the bottom drawer of the fridge. "Ino, I'm sorry, but my hair isn't gonna be in any style but this one right here." She poked the side of her head rapidly. "How come you don't tell Kin or Tayuya to put their hair in your style?" The younger blonde shrugged. "Tayuya likes her hair down way too much...and I dunno about Kin...Hey, I'll call her and ask if she wants to come over! I'll fix up her dull hair in no time! Tenten, you're welcome for some help, too. I bet you're bored with those Chinese hair dumplings anyway." Tenten was too busy typing numbers into a calculator for her math homework to even care for what had been said to her.

"So the radius times pi equals...6 trillion?"

Ino bounced happily over to the phone, giggling at Tenten, and dialed Tayuya's house. After she finished punching the numbers she disappeared upstairs and Akamaru followed her. Temari, apple in mouth, walked through the living room to the bathroom by the front door to change into her real clothes. The other kids went back to their homework.

"What's the capital of Wyoming?"

"You freaking idiot..."

"Okay, thanks!"

666

May 2nd, 6:37

666

"I finished that report on the twins with bone cancer, and I gave Mr. Holmes his medicine for the next month. Anything else, Dr. Gin?" Shizune asked patiently to her boss.

The old bald man scratched his chin and scrolled down several pages in his outdated, large computer. "No, thanks, Ms. Dan. That's all for today. Well, see you Friday, too." Shizune gave him a formal goodbye and left the office. There was no one around in the bleak hallway, so she took the oppurtunity to let out a quick burp she'd been holdin in for formal reasons. She rolled up the long sleeves of her doctor-outfit scrubs and sighed. This hospital was a bit too hot for her tastes. Either that or this shirt was way too thick.

Shizune, as a part-time nurse and part-time parent, worked at the Wyoming Medical Center. In all essence and simplicity, she did pretty much every last request that could be put on her shoulders. Give this dude some medicine, check this lady's heart monitor, file reports for that one guy who fell and broke his hip, take mini-road trips and help the ambulance-drivers put patients in the vehicles. That last one could be a bit stressful, considering the injured folk were usually burned by a fire from their house or shot by a gangster in a passing car. She didn't usually have to be the one to do that, but when she was, it wasn't the happiest job in the world.

Shizune Dan exited the building with a happy cheer. Today hadn't been the worst day, but it sure was tiring. After coming in an hour early (and waking up an hour early) and staying at work for almost two extra hours, it would be nice to sit in her room and just watch the weather channel with a nice, fattening, unheathly chocolate bar.

"Ms. Dan! Ms. Dan!" A high voice shrieked.

The dark-haired woman sighed. She'd rather not go back in to see if a random person was still breathing, pardon the harshness. The shrill voice called again and again until Shizune turned around and saw a long-haired college trainee with a letter in her hand. The girl stopped to catch her breath and wiped her forehead with both hands. "Here...here...Mr. Gin forgot that that was...in your mailbox!" Shizune nodded, thanked the trainee and sat at the bus stop bench, waiting for one to come by.

Since she'd donated her car last month, she'd been using the subway and the buses to get around--though once she had used Temari's bicycle--since she wanted to save her new car money for Tsunade. The bus wasn't that bad anyway. Most of them had good air conditioning and seats softer than Jiraiya's prized Cherokee jeep.

The vehicle came around the corner and stopped by the red sign. Shizune dropped a quarter into the slot and found her favorite seat, in the very front and just behind the driver, empty. She set her workbag next to her and rested her head against the back of the seat. Something soft and papery was next to her hand. '_Huh?' _Oh yeah. The letter.

It was probably from her boyfriend, Genma. He was an athletic sort of guy who would happily wake up at 5 AM to run a lap around the block, and also the sort who loved kids. The Hokage kids loved him--though he did help cause slight injuries for them from time to time. He _was _part of the reason Lee always wore bandages on his arms. God knew how Lee, little 13 year old Lee, could know enough karate to match up with Genma, who was at least twice his age and had been learning the style three times as long as Lee.

She scanned the letter for an address...not Genma's.

_'The DMV? For what...? Oh, yeah! That old green minivan I donated before. They probably just want to tell me someone bought it and is now living a happy life with a big, working car.' _

The bus took a slow curve as Shizune used her nails to carefully open the top of the letter. She read every last word on every last, long, small-printed line.

"Oh dear."

666

May 2nd, 2006, 7:33 PM

666

"So Youfreakingidiot is NOT the capital of Wyoming?"

"No."

"So what is?"

"Cheyenne."

"Okey-doke."

"Need any other capitals?"

"Utah, Virginia and Texas."

"Virginia is Richmond...and I forget the other two."

"You do not! Everyone knows you're good at the states and capitals crap!" Sakura set down her glass figurines and set them in the bottom drawer in her nightstand. In turn she took out a small, stuffed black bear. "Tenten's even better at them." She said. "I get the two Dakotas and Carolinas screwed up. Tenten's better. She's like...a capitals machine." Kiba imagined Tenten being just that, with her penchant for sharp things...and shuddered.

"I can't ask her now. She's talking in German to Kankurou again and it looks like it's important. They're all serious and frowny."

"Ask Tenten for the capitals and make her less frowny."

"Hmm...okay. But if they shout a German insult at me, you owe me a dollar!"

"Fair deal." Kiba left their room with his homework sheet in hand. Sakura hugged the little black bear close and fingered the violet ribbon tied neatly around it's neck. "Shortstuff the black bear, face off against Therma, the dragoness queen!" She opened her nightstand drawer and took out a glassy dragon figurine almost as big as her hand. It was a snowy-white dragon with four ripped, silver wings. It's tail wound gracefully around it's long legs and it's fanged mouth was open, ready to blast godly dragonflame.

She set the stuffed animal and the dragon figure in front of each other. Her mind had a grand time imagining the fight. The great bear, a general of the Mountains Army, face off in a thunderstorm, conjured up by the angry queen dragon, Therma. In reality, neither objects were doing anything but floating through the air in her hands. But all around her mind, the battle swirled: a good, magic bear fighting for the good of the land, to calm the berserk queen possessed by her own rage.

"I'M HOME!"

**Battle interrupted, please try again **

Goddammit.

Sakura took Shortstuff, now again just a stuffed doll instead of a great, fighting beast, and set him gently on her bed. Shortscoff, as her first and favorite stuffed animal, had a special place, always right next to her at bedtime. Shortstuff was to her, as Akamaru was to Kiba...kind of.

She picked up the hard figure of Therma, now just a shiny, glass carving instead of a raging monster, and set her carefully on a folded piece of cloth in the bottom drawer of her nightstand. She sighed, wishing the imaginary battle could have gone on longer. She'd just been imagining one of the possible climactic endings, a last battle, when, of course, a grown-up yelled something oh-so important it screwed up the whole story.

"C'mon, Sakura! Shizune's home! She's got some important letter to show us!"

"Coming!"

She took a last look at Therma and the others and closed the drawer. She skipped the last three steps and jumped off the stairs and ran into the foyer towards the front door. Ino and Tenten were shouting somewhere behind her to "stop it" or "slow down" or some such words, but Sakura didn't listen.

Just closing the front door with a shaky arm was Shizune, her black workbag and an envelope in hand. She picked up her workbag and dumped it in the treasure chest, an old wooden box where the kids usually set their backpacks. She walked down the hallway and turned into the living room. Shizune, followed by Ino, Tenten, Sakura, Shino and Kankurou, fell heavily upon the long couch with an odd, ragged, sighing sound.The envelope was still clutched tight in her hands. She suddenly appeared the be dead asleep or fainted to her kids, who merely stared at her without moving an inch. Eventually, Ino scooted over to Kankurou, moved up onto her tiptoes and whispered solemnly, "Is she dead?"

"Nah." Kankurou scratched at his head through his black-"eared" hat. "Rough day at the hospital, maybe."

"You think she got the ambulance duty again? Maybe she saw a gross injury and blacked out."

"Shizune never faints. Except just that one time when--"

"I'm not dead, kids." Shizune announced loudly. "No, I didn't have a rough day. Just an annoying one. People kept asking me to do the simplest, smallest work and they made everything into such a big deal. They've made it so an old man with a high fever can appear to have brain cancer. Today...ugh, so annoying! But it's not the worst news." Shizune put an arm over her eyes and held up the open envelope for her kids to see.

The corner of a piece of paper was sticking from the top. "You guys can read this...I guess you should know anyway."

Kankurou snatched the letter from Shizune's hands before Sakura could, and took out the paper from the envelope. It was folded into thirds, and once he unfolded it, his eyes had trouble reading the tiny, perfect print. Sakura stood on her tiptoes, to make up for her lack of height compared to Kankurou, and read the letter over his shoulder. The others stood waiting by Shizune, awaiting a zipped-up summary.

Before long, the corner of Sakura's mouth was twitching and she was breaking out in an adorable smile. Ino bounced up and down on her heels. It must be good for Sakura to smile at it, right? It must be from that nice, old boy Genma, that one that Shizune liked so much. But the adorable smile morphed a few seconds after. Soon enough, Sakura had fallen backwards, laughing like a serial killer. She fell flat on her back onto the carpet with her arms over her eyes to hold back tears.

Ino watched her with freaked out, blue eyes as though she was a mad dog with rabies. Kankurou didn't appear to notice; he continued to read the letter with one hand casually in his black pants pocket. Tenten and Shino stood still as stone, not moving half an inch while their youngest sister writhed on the floor laughing. "Well? Is it a love note from Genma?" Ino pressed. "Come on, Kankurou! Is it really long?"

Kankuou said nothing...still reading.

"Say something! Is it something _good? _Good? Can baby Kanky say _good?" _Nothing. "No, it's not good." Shizune said from her position on the couch. "Kankurou, give it here. I'll read the main parts to you." Kankurou nodded slowly and handed the letter back. Shizune shot up quick as lightning and sat comfortably on the couch reading the letter. "Okay, here. This note is from the DMV. Remember when I donated the minivan?"

"Like we wouldn't!" Kiba exclaimed, coming down the stairs. As usual, he was wearing his grey, hooded jacket and Akamaru had nestled himself into said hood. "We drove all the way to San Francisco in that car! And to Naruto's house, and to the mall and McDonald's and Applebee's and everywhere! It was awesome and I had my favorite seat in the middle by the left window and I had the heater right on my feet..."

He sighed dreamily, remembering his sweet seat. "You liked the minivan." Tenten deadpanned with a sympathetic smile. Kiba grumbled about the world being unfair and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He found a seat on the couch's armrest by Shizune's head. "So what's the rest about?"

Shizune poked several lines with her hand. "Well, the DMV is noting me about the minivan. Someone bought it a couple days after they took it to the...uh, car-store. And they just wanted to let me know, basically, that someone bought it." She folded the paper promptly and refused to say more. "So why's Shorty howling over there?" Ino pointed to Sakura, still whooping and laughing, now with tears coming through her eyes. The dark-haired woman scratched her head. "Well...it was bought by a shady sort of person, and the salesguy was new to the business so didn't get the right information and all that...My van got bought by a bad person."

"And?"

"And the DMV just wants to let me know a couple things, nothing to worry about." Ino growled in annoyance. "C'mon, Shizune!" She insisted, pacing the floor. "Sakura's about to suffocate from reading that! What's so funny?" The woman rubbed her head with a shaky hand. "Uh...they...they want me to know that...uh..." The kids still waited in impatient silence. "Well?"

"Criminals used my minivan to carry away stolen cash."

"..."

"They robbed a store with my car."

"AHAHAHAAHHAHAAAHA!"

Kiba fell to his knees, practically crying. "R-R-Robbed...a b-b-Ahahaha!" His fists pounded the floor and he was soon suffering the same laughing disease as his pink-haired friend. Shino fell back onto the couch and Ino and Tenten nearly had their jaws on the floor. "The minivan was...what?!" Their mother sighed with irritation and muttered, "You heard. It was used in an armed robbery. My van got bought by some criminal and he and his criminal pal used the car to rob a pharmacy and shoot three people...it happened in Milwaukee."

"Wow. That's just...wow."

"That's what I thought, too. You never know what kind of idiot will buy a car."

Just at that moment, the front door opened and they all recognized the sound of Tsunade in her high-heeled rainboots. She came into the living room with a frown on her face and her clothes wrinkled on the sleeves. She barely spared a glance at her adopted son and daughter howling and laughing on the floor. Tsunade looked down at her sister, who stared back up. The two looked at each other for a long time before they both got up and walked swiftly into the kitchen. They moved to the side so they couldnt be seen from the living room.

Ino and Tenten were muttering to themselves about the odd discovery and Kiba and Sakura were starting to stop their laughter. He kicked them both gently in the ribs to get them to stop laughing, and when they were about to unleash an angry onslaught on him for kicking them, Shino put up a hand and motioned for them to be silent. He adjusted the hood on his jacket to hid his face a little more, and pointed to the kitchen. They vaguely heard their two mothers talking and nodded in understanding. The three of them tiptoed quietly to the wall by the kitchen threshold, where they could easily hear the two sisters' conversation.

"The minivan was _what?" _

"Used in an armed robbery. These two guys bought it, robbed a pharmacy and shot the cashier and two customers. They drove away in my van with three hundred dollars from the cashier and drove around like drunks, smahing up the van. The police caught them a couple days later."

"And what's the problem with that? Kiba and Sakura looked like they found it pretty amusing."

"I didn't tell them all of it."

They listened closer now.

"So, what's all of it?" Shizune made a sobbing sound and the sound of her footsteps pacing the kitchen followed. "The salesperson who sold the minivan was new and didn't know some things, so he didn't get the buyer to sign for it. It was never retitled, so the car's deed still had my name." She paused, as Tsunade might not have understood. "When those thugs were arrested and the car was inspected, they found my name under the file of Owner. And as the owner they want _me _to pay for the car's damage."

"But..but you _donated _that old thing! It's not yours! How can they expect you to pay for it?"

"Legal things and state laws and DMV rules. It's just over fifty thousand dollars." There was a very long pause. Kiba almost rose to leave but Shino pulled him back down before he could be seen running past. Sakura moved as close to the threshold as she could without exposing any part of her small body. They waited and waited until Tsunade croaked out, "We don't _have _fifty thousand dollars."

"Not after this, we won't. I was saving up for a new car for so long...and after I pay this fine I'll barely have enough left to get a pricy dinner from Burger King. I'm screwed."

"Well, you're not the only one today, Shizune. I got screwed a little more, too. Guess how many today?"

"Ten bank accounts?" Tsunade laughed at her sister's guess. "I wish. I lost twenty-four today. Most of them were parents this time, though. They're moving to the Yale area to keep an eye on their kids. And parents got more money than they got kids, sis. I lost another big chunk. And one of my good employees quit on me. So we're both sorta screwed today." Shizune made a laughing sound and the kids heard her opening the fridge. They squeezed close to the wall. From the fridge, there was a chance of them being seen. Luckily, Shizune closed the fridge, having found whatever she was looking for, and was talking to Tsunade again.

"Jiraiya's in Missouri seeing a client for his novel today. He won't be back till Friday morning. Should we call and tell him?" Tsunade must have nodded. "Sure. He'd find out anyway. Always nagging and begging. Stupid old guy. But for damn sure, don't tell the kids. Temari's _still _hanging onto hope for her DS."

"She's not getting that thing for a long time." Shizune observed.

"I know. And I feel like crap for it. If this keeps up, we may have to move."

Shino had to put his hands on his siblings mouths to keep them from gasping out loud. He listened harder while they panted in anticipation. "Don't say that." Shizune chided. "It's just another slump. Our own Great Depression. They don't go to Yale forever. I've looked up classes online on my laptop. They're starting in mid-June, so by then this problem'll be gone for sure."

"It doesn't matter. I've lost enough. I got a great resume, though." There was a clinking of glass as Tsunade dropped ice cubes into a cup. "Odds are, with a resume as good as mine I'll end up head of a bank of America in Boston or New York."

"You know the kids like it here. They love everything about it."

"I know. But I could have so much better for them there! A bigger house, a pool in the backyard one day."

"They like Westmill...they like their friends. They like this town, this house, this _street." _

Both stopped talking for a long while. Kiba was about to burst from the tight silence when Tsunade finally began speaking again. "You're right. I guess I was just dreaming. I don't know what I was just thinking. I like this town, too. Casper's a great town. This street and this house...you're right. I love it. We shouldn't move unless we're about to be evicted! I swear on this cup o' wine, sis! If we move...I'll never drink again!"

"Don't make stupid promises, Tsunade. You love your wine. You can't go a day without a _sip_, at least."

"I mean it. If we leave this town with a moving truck behind us, I'll never down any alcoholic beverage again." The kids heard Shizune laughing softly. "Well, if you insist, then. Here, I'll toast for you...To our family!"

"To our family."

"May we never leave this place."

"Amen!"

While the two women were gulping their drinks, Sakura grasped her friends' hands and dragged them upstairs as quickly and silently as she could. She opened the door to the room she shared with Kiba and Hinata and closed the door so slowly the door didn't even squeak. Hinata wasn't in the room...she might have been at Naruto's house. At least it gave the kids free space to talk. "Move?" Sakura repeated slowly. "They think we might have to move..." Kiba shook his head, taking Akamaru out of his hood. The pup had been silent the entire time, from reading the letter to coming up to his master's room.

"No, they toasted on it that they wouldn't. Tsunade always drinks a little bit of her wine every day. She loves that stuff like she loves breathing! And you know she'd never stop drinking it! So we can't move!"

"I knew it." Shino breathed. "I should've guessed when I saw them grocery shopping that night. I knew it was going to get worse."

"We have to do something." Sakura whispered, standing up. Shino turned to look at her and huffed. Her appearance, short, skinny and not awfully intimidating at first sight in a bright and happy purple T-shirt and blue jeans, didn't quite inspire him. "Do what? Make fifty or sixty grand appear out of nowhere? Where would you get that much cash, Sakura? Your piggy bank?"

"I keep my money in a different place, bugbrain." Sakura growled. "You were there when I smashed that thing with Jiraiya's hammer. Remember? And I got more now, anyway."

"How do we keep getting money while the adults keep losing it?" Shino grumbled to himself, walking toward the open window. Kiba answered his rhetorical question. "Jiraiya sneaks allowance sometimes. Didn't you know? People drop a lot of money on the bus and the subway, too. Even the sidewalk, you can find two bucks just sitting in the grass. Plus there's always stuff to do around here! Naruto's dad is always giving us chores to do and he pays us like a king! Five or six bucks just to take out the trash!"

There was a pause as neither Shino nor Sakura spoke. Both stared of into nothing, thinking. "We should give some of it to Tsunade." Kiba suggested casually. Shino shook his head. "No...if they knew that we knew about this, they'd worry like we were about to die. They'd think they have to reassure us all the time. Shizune would probably give us a lecture about money and family love every day before we even get on the school bus. They can't know that we know."

"I think we should just...think." Shino stated blandly. "I don't know about you guys, but I feel a little _weird_ right now. I'm gonna go outside and see if there are fireflies around. Tell me if you think of anything big, okay?" He looked them both in the eyes and left the room, leaving the door wide open. The brunette boy with tattoos yawned and said, "Eh, my mind's broke right now. You got anything?"

Sakura was staring hard and focused at the window. A small, black bird had landed on a tree branch inches from the window and was chirping a song into the new night. "Yo, Shorty. I said, you got anything?" She still didn't answer. Instead, she chose to get up off of her bed and move towards their little TV and the PS2. She sat down at the bookshelf next to the TV and began looking and scanning the titles of the books there. "Yeah, I got an idea. But I gotta find something first."

"Okay, then. Well...I haven't fed Akamaru since this morning. I'm gonna go back downstairs, and I'll try to save some of your strawberry milk for ya, 'cause, you know, Akamaru's just as savage as you when he sees that stuff."

"Sure, thanks."

Kiba left the room, his dog in tow, while Sakura searched the novels on the shelf. She glanced at all the titles until she found the particular one she was looking for. She opened the novel and searched the pages for a specific chapter. Ah, there it was. This book could have some helpful information for her plan...should she decide to even try carrying it out.

_The Thief Lord..._

666

End chapter. Yup. Since it's not a secret that Kiba, Sakura and Hinata run away, I will openly say that The Thief Lord will provide some tips for them on how to be a runaway child. But I don't suggest anyone ever run away from home, ahem. This is just a fun story made to amuse me and some other people. We must find out, however...How will Shino _not _find out about the plan? We'll see.

Oh, and that thing about the car in an armed robbery was copied from a story my brother told me. His friend had an old car he called the Clunker, and he just didn't want the old thing anymore, so donated it. A couple months later, the friend got a letter from the police or some such alliance that said that his car had been used in an armed bank robbery.Of course, the friend said the car wasn't his. I found this story pretty damn funny so I used it here.

Oh, by the way, does anyone like Courage the Cowardly Dog? I used to love that show and I want to know if anybody still does...or ever did.

Ta...Storm (who is actually done at 10:00 at night instead of the usual 1:00! It's because I got out of school early today. Happy 3-and-a-half day weekend for Martin Luther King Day.)


	6. Sunday Plan

Ahhh...I love inspiration. Especially for stories and fanfictions. I think the best way to get inspiration for a story is to watch a good movie. Right now I'm watching The Wild Thornberrys Movie and it's got me in a Cross Country mood. Just seeing Eliza and Darwin jumping off the train makes me want to write some of this...So I'm going to get it down before the movie ends. (But I'll probably just watch it again anyway.) You know how you need a good song to dance to? I need something remotely interesting on TV to write my stories to.

**Reviews: **

**seguha: **Update commence, as usual.

**KougaandKagomeForever: **Foreshadowing...I knew I was doing _something _there. I actually forgot what it was called...eh, whatever. Yes, the whole "runaway child" is going to help. Lots. And..."You'll be infected!"

**sakuraharuno-cherryblossom: **I love that book, too, and the author. She's genius.

**BlackXheart: **Love/hate, but sometimes hate/hate. Blah. Long Live Courage! Cartoon Network, Gay. Yes. Half the stuff they show now is either crap or gay. I cannot wait myself...to WRITE what the hell she does next.

**lily: **Do you live around New York? AOL says they have almost 10 feet of snow now. THEY are lucky.

**babygaaralover: **Thanks for reviewing, and I will!

666

May 10th, 2006, 4:46 PM

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"I could freaking feel it! It wanted me! It wanted me like a fetish!"

Kiba laid his head in his hands, slumped down onto the long couch, and sighed. "It was the greatest game ever...the newest Cabela's Game Hunter...right there in my face! But forty bucks for it! It's murder, I tell you, murder!" Tenten nodded as she fiddled with a steak knife, running her finger up and down the blade. _'Pretty knife, pretty knife, gorgeous knife.'_ Kiba ranted on about how very much he wanted the hunting game he'd seen at Wal-Mart earlier that day and would sell his body to have it.

"I'd sell myself to science, and give away my holographic Lugia card and my autographed Roger Maris baseball card! Anything, man! I want the game! Waah!"

Kiba stood up and staggered around the room, moaning and wobbling as though in a drunk haze. "Game Hunter, I want you!" Tenten took no notice, only used a fine cloth to polish the steak knife. Just then Jiraiya wandered into the room from upstairs, carrying in his hand a stack of orange books. His face was red and he giggled nonstop. Kiba stopped in his tracks and squinted his eyes to try and see the titles on the sides of the books.

'_Itchy...Icha...itch...' _He thought as he squinted at the books in his father's arms. '_He's writing about itches?'_

His curiosity piqued, and his desperation for the sweet, sweet Cabela's game gone from his mind, Kiba followed his adopted father into the kitchen. Jiraiya turned his back just enough to keep the books hidden from his son's sight. Kiba frowned and jumped up and down, bouncing his ever-present grey jacket to see over his dad's arm.

"C'mon! Lemme see 'em! I never even saw 'em once!" Jiraiya set a strong hand on his son's head to keep him on the floor. He looked around the room dramatically, narrowed his eyes and leaned down to his son's level. He said, "I gotta get these shipped to Portland quick! Don't tell Tsunade, okay?"

Seeing a rather humongous loophope in Jiraiya's words, the boy only smirked. "Maybe I will...if you let me see one o' those books!"

"No."

"But--!"

"No."

"Then tell me who's in Portland who wants 'em."

"You remember Mr. Hatake?"

"Who?"

Jiraiya slapped his forehead. "On the day we saw Hinata at Five Sisters? It was years ago; you might not remember...It was Mr. Hatake who bought one of these books?" Kiba still looked dumbstruck. "Kakashi! Do you remember that name? The guy with a bandana on his face? Silver-ish hair? One eye? The Harley motorcycle and the shiny boots?"

"Yeah, he was cool!"

"No, he was _not _cool, Kiba! He rode a motorcycle without a helmet and could bash his skull to pieces! The only good thing about him is that he has good taste in novels!" Once again looking around in a dramatic fashion, he stuffed the books under his shirt, where they looked quite obvious, and whispered to Kiba, "I'm kinda in trouble with the publishers, too. It's not just Kakashi that's waiting to buy one of these. They wanted the next book done by last week and they said they'll take fifteen percent of the profit away every day that it's late! Brahh! Impatient, airheaded--hey, what's that over there?!" Kiba turned swiftly around, only to see the living room behind him and Tenten staring at her steak knife.

When he turned around again, Jiraiya was running at full-speed out the back door in the kitchen to the backyard, yelling about "being late."

"Grown-ups." He muttered.

666

May 30th, 2006, 3:29 PM

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"Aaah! I can't wait till school's out! I'll be so great to not have to deal with that crap! Test, homework, wake up, brush teeth, do this, do that, run, walk, quiz, eat slow, no foodfights, no violence, detention, no animals allowed--RAAAAAH! Sorry 'bout that."

"S'all right. School sucks, nuff said."

Sakura slumped her head and rested her chin on her chest for a moment. Kiba stared at her sympathetically as they walked down the busy street together, away from school and towards home. Today, the two of them had chosen to walk home from school instead of taking the bus with the rest of their house-mates. It was a half-hour walk from Westmill School to Highstone Drive, and Kiba wasn't sure why he'd let his best friend drag him to this long route.

It involved two intersections that used more green lights than red--not good for someone walking--and a park with rabid, ill-tempered squirrels...and it just wasn't the most pleasant walk. Thus far, they were only walking down a shopping street lined with strip malls. The evil squirrels nor the long-wait intersection hadn't come up yet.

"So, why are we walking home today?"

"Cause it's Friday."

"So?"

"And I got somethin' to show you."

The short girl stopped, let her backpack slither off her shoulders and plop onto the ground. She opened it, dug around the various library books and crumpled worksheets to find a paperback novel with a dark, blue cover. "The Thief Lord? So what? I read it already. The ending was really weird. Ow!" The brunette lifted his foot and rubbed the spot where his friend had stomped on it. "Not the book, stupid! The story!"

"Same thing!"

"Nuh-uh...here, look at this page. Read that paragraph right there."

Kiba followed Sakura's small finger and skimmed over the paragraph as fast as his slow reading abilities allowed him. "Hornet's making it look like Victor's kidnapping her, to help everyone else get to that church place where the Conte is...and she took his wallet after. Is that one of your favorite parts?"

"Not really. But read it again. See anything about Hornet?"

"...She's...smart?"

"Yes! She's smart! And that works with the plan!"

"Another plan to tie Ino to a tree?"

She looked around. No one else was walking on their sidewalk, and no cars roamed the road next to them. No windows on the houses were open and any people that could be seen were far off across the street. No one was close enough to hear what the two kids were saying. "You know how Tsunade's been getting cranky?" Kiba cringed and nodded. All last week, Tsunade had had purple sags under her eyes and tousled hair. She looked like she hadn't slept or bothered to decently groom herself each morning, and she'd gone to work each day looking like that. Along with her messy looks, her personality hadn't seemed to be quite neat either.

As Kiba recalled, she had snapped at her sister and Jiraiya, and even sweet Hinata, who hadn't done a thing wrong in the world. Her meanness had somehow made Shino depressed, as he could recall seeing the boy sitting and brooding in the backyard more than usual, and her special Saturday brandy glasses had been untouched for two weeks. Not normal.

"Yeah...and messy, too." He stuck his hands in his pockets and tried to think of something else besides the rather disturbing thought of his mother not drinking her special Saturday brandy. "And it's because of those college kids and their parents all going to Yale at the same time?"

"Yeah, it's like everyone's friends with that first person who set it off. Dominos really do work!"

"I know how to fix it."

"Fix dominos? There's nothing wrong with 'em!" Sakura sighed affectionately and crouched down on one knee, setting her novel into the backpack once more. Slipping the backpack onto her shoulders again, she scoffed, "Moron! I mean I know how to fix Tsunade's money problem!"

"How's that?"

"Run away."

666

May 30th, 2006, 3:35 PM

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"You're nuts."

"I don't think that's really right word."

"Yes it is, pinky. You're nuts."

She shook her head and smiled, as though trying to explain something complex to a young child. "You're just not getting it yet. I'll explain it for you."

"Please do!"

"It's a lot like donating to some emergency fund, like those little "help the foreign kids" boxes around McDonald's. They always have a million quarters and tons of dollars in there, right?" He nodded. "Well, if we run away, the grown-ups will...well, first, they'll go crazy looking for us, and with Jiraiya and Tsunade combined in a parental force, plus Shizune, the whole town will wonder what the hell they're running around for." Kiba scratched his chin, nodding, pretending that he was really understanding.

"All of Casper will be looking for us missing kids, but when they don't find us in town, some might give up looking. But not with our parents; hell no! They'll force the police to go all over the county and maybe all of Wyoming!" She raised her arms to emphasize her point.

"And while all of Wyoming is looking for the missing kids, people from all over America will see the notices and rewards and newspaper articles--yes, I think we could get ourselves in the newspaper with this--and they'll look at our parents and see how much they miss us. That is where the gist of the plan comes in!"

"And that is..."

"Donations," She said simply.

"...Huh?"

"With our parents being the center of it all, and our parents being themselves, people will look at them and feel sorry for them. They'll send money to help the search." Kiba's eyebrows shot up as the entirety of the girl's plan sunk into his brain.

"I think Tsunade would spend every last penny of it looking for us, but Jiraiya and maybe Shizune would see what's happening for them. I know at least Jiriaya is smart enough to store away some of the money for emergency funds and basically money for themselves to keep. If we hide out long enough, they'll end up with enough money to make up what Green Run lost and what Shizune lost when she paid for her robbery-car...and then some!"

Kiba stared as deep into his friend's bright-green eyes, trying to see if she had been pulling his leg the whole time. "Are you sure that would work?"

"Yeah. I even went on the internet and looked for missing children stories." She replied cheerily, feeling proud of herself. "People give money into those things like they're the stock market." The brunette scratched his head and looked at his surroundings, watching people and friends across the street walk by with their children by their sides and in their arms. Adults loved their kids more than anything. Being in a family of fourteen could get that message through your head, and the Hokage family knew it.

"...But what about our money? I mean, you and me. We can't leave home without anything to buy tents or food or things like that."

"I pulled together everything I could." Sakura shrugged, beginning to walk again. She lifted her arms up to balance as she stepped along the curb. Kiba followed behind her, trying not to fall. "I sold that Pokemon soundtrack on Ebay and got about twenty bucks for it..." She muttered. "And that second copy of Land Before Time, too...that was maybe ten bucks...plus money I had before." Sakura looked up at the sky and muttered something to herself. "I think I got about eighty-five dollars...give or take. You?"

"Forty-five, maybe." Kiba replied shortly, looking down at his feet. "Probably forty. Eighty-five plus forty is a hundred and twenty-something. You think we can live off a hundred and twenty dollars?"

"What about Hinata's money?" She asked.

Kiba reached out a hand and slammed it down on the pink-haired-girl's shoulder. He felt her wince from the sudden slap and she stopped in her tracks. "You want Hinata to come, too?" He growled. "She can't. She's too…she's…" He couldn't find words. Sakura jumped to turn around and face him. "Yeah, well, I think she should come with us."

"Why?!"

"You want to leave her here to worry about us? She's our best friend. She's gotta come!"

He looked away and knew that he'd miss Hinata too much to not bring her along. She would miss him, too. Enough to cry herself to death, possibly literally. "Okay. Do you know how much money she has?" His friend nodded slowly and smirked. "A lot. She hasn't spent a cent of her birthday money on anything but that camera she got last year. She's bound to have more than us combined!"

"More than a hundred bucks?"

"Two hundred. Just a guess."

"Dude, she's loaded."

666

May 30th, 2006, 3:49

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"No! I won't do it and you guys can't make me!"

"Pleeeaase, Hinata?! This'll make Tsunade happy and not-messy again!"

"Sakura, no! Don't look at me like that! I'd like if you kept your puppydog eyes to yourself."

"Hinata, c'mon! Don't you want Temari to get her DS? And Kankurou to get that mahogany wood for his next puppet? Do you want Tsunade to be happy?"

"Yes, but--!"

"Then you have to come with us!"

"I s-said--"

"We're on our friggin' knees, Hinata! Come on!"

"Fine!"

Sakura slumped down with a pleased sigh, and silently patted her hand on Kiba's in a silent high-five. Her friend returned it and sent her a look of teamwork and pride. Both knew they had their purple-haired friend hooked. "But we really need to know how much money you have saved," Kiba's self-satisfied look dissolved into the curiosity and need of a helpless orphan. Hinata was hooked, for sure. "Me an' Sakura have a hundred and twenty bucks combined. We'll need some more."

"I have..." Hinata walked around their room, looking at various items in the bookshelf, under Kiba's bed, and in the bottom drawer of Sakura's nightstand. Sakura tensed as she saw Hinata looking at her precious dragon statues, but the drawer was quickly closed when Hinata moved to the other side of the room to open the drawers of her own nightstand. She dug around for awhile, and then pulled out a red, wooden box with a horse's head carved into the top. She opened the box.

Kiba leaned against Sakura and struggled not to black out as he saw the many green papers sticking out of the box. Hinata fingered around the various dollar bills, took some out and put them into her pocket, folded others and stuffed some back into the red box. "Maybe about three hundred dollars." She deduced.

Kiba staggered and fell against Sakura.

Sakura held him in a standing position firmly, though she was just as shocked. "You saved all that from birthdays?"

"Yes."

"You're loaded!" Kiba croaked. "You could be a mob boss, Hinata!"

The girl flushed and closed the box, setting it into the back of her drawer. "I know it's only been a few minutes since you started talking to me about this, but I put some thought into i-it already." She said quietly. "I think we should add something else to it." Sakura set Kiba and herself down onto Hinata's bed, ready to listen.

"I think we should m-make it look like we've been k-kidnapped." Hinata whispered. "I thought it through and I think it would be more reasonable, y-you know? They'd not only be looking for _us, _but the people that "took" us away. It wouldn't just be us on the wanted list."

"How would we do that?" Kiba asked, slowly waking up from his money-caused slur. "How do we make ourselves look kidnapped?"

"I thought about that, too. We c-c-could..." Hinata gulped loudly as both her friends had their eyes fixed directed on her. She stuttered, regained her composure, and walked over to the window, open a crack like usual. "The window." He stated. "We go outside and climb the tree, and then open the window from the outside. We wear rubber gloves and leave fingerprints from the gloves, so it looks like criminals came in. When we leave, we leave the window open a little more, to make it look like someone really _did _come in through the window." Kiba beamed at her and his eyes glowed with pride for her. "That's genius! Keep going!"

Inspired but also embarrassed by her friend, Hinata put her hands behind her back and went on, "And we could break a vase!"

Sakura whistled at Hinata's new apparent behavior. "That sounds fun, but what would you want to do it for?"

"To make it look like a break-in!" Hinata smiled and her arms tensed at the anticipation of her own plan. "On our way out, we smash a vase, and one of us will scream like we're struggling. It'll sound like a break-in and a kidnapping at the same time. We skedaddle, the family sees we're gone, freak out, and then we'll be on our own!"

"Genius, girl! Genius!" Sakura whooped. Kiba whistled and wrapped Hinata in a strangling hug. "You're awesome! When do you think we should go?"

"Sunday night," She replied with embarrassment. She looked away from Kiba, as she was, after all, stuck in his wrangling hug. "Saturday night, there's parties and things like that...more people would be out late, and they'd see us. Sunday, everyone's tired and getting ready for school and work, so they go to bed e-early. We could wake up really, really early and then...do the plan. No one would be outside at 3 AM on Sunday night, right? Or should we call it Monday morning?"

"Sunday night, I think, and you're right!" Sakura joined the hug and took both her dear friends in a viciously strong hug. "Kiba, you should bring Akamaru, too! He can wake us up when we need to wake up early. An alarm clock might be too loud."

"Kay." Kiba took a few sweet moments to hug his pals, and grudgingly let go of them both.

"Should we pack now?"

"Eh, why not."

"Oh, and Kiba?"

"Yuh-huh?"

"Bring dog food."

666

This took three and a half hours. I almost finished Sunday night, and I was in the middle of watching the Wild Thornberrys Movie for the third time, but of _course _my laptop decided to die right in front of me. Inside I was screaming, GODFUCK THIS!

But on the outside I couldn't do a thing. Turns out my power plug wasn't plugged in all day. Lucky for me I didn't lose much, only a few paragraphs that I easily retyped today right after school. Today we had a field trip and went to see Freedom Writers, which was pretty cool, and then we went to Burger King to eat. Sure, half the other kids got to go to Taco Bell, which is so much better than bland Burger King, but we missed a whole day of school to watch a movie and eat fries.

And I'm telling you this because I think Freedom Writers is a good movie. Watch it. Be educated.

Enjoy life.

Ta...Storm


	7. The Runaways

Chapter 7 of Cross Country. Yeah, I've been in a writing slump for the last couple months. I just wanted to laze around and watch movies and listen to my iPod and read books…I'm sorry. I think I'm back from that vacation now.

I must sincerely thank all those who've stuck around till now. It's been a bit _boring_ up till now. But then, now's when things pick up. When little kids are missing, things _get interesting_ no matter what. God knows what Tsunade will do. These are her youngest babies! She'll be devastated when the _plan_ is launched! Speaking of which, to launch said plan, I should do reviews now. I love doing reviews.

**Reviews: **

**Sakuraharuno-cherryblossom: **Hinata's got so many more surprises in her than being funny—you don't even _know _what she's got up her sleeve.

**Lily: **That sucks. It's May now, but I wish it was snowing. Thank God school's gonna be over soon, huh?

**Seguha: **: )

**KougaAnd KagomeForever: **If you can channel inspiration in your sleep maybe that's why I'm typing this. I never did figure out why I just got come from school today and decided to write something for the first time in two months. If I could send a box of chocolates or money via Internet, I would, dammit. …Kiba…Kiba…is so…cool. I love making him say stuff…He's being all, like Hakuna Matata. Since they're not siblings, any KibaHina is just fine. I shall make it so! Also, I haven't watched Naruto fillers in a long time, so I didn't see the one you're talking about. Now it's all Shippuden, man. But if Ino was feeling _bad _then I'll probably look for that episode.

**Blackxheart: **Nothing's wrong with liking knives. Nothing's wrong with wanting to use knives instead of darts when you play dartboard. _(I.want.to.play.dartboard.with.knives.) _WHAT? You don't like Taco Bell? Inhuman, I say! Inhuman! Cartoon Network, gay. Luckily I found out that they DO still air Courage the Cowardly Dog. It's on at 9 at night for Midwestern states, so 10 at night in the east and 8 in the west…I think. Wasn't Freedom Writers great. I loved it, especially that one white kid in a class of black kids. No racism meant, but he looked like he was about to die from fright and I found it funny.

**Flame Hikarashiha: **KibaHina and KibaSaku. They're both nice. So I include both here…when I can. The story continues…

Chapter the 7th.

666

June 2nd, 4:19 AM (very early Monday morning, when the sun isn't even up yet)

666

"Rrrf."

"Muhh."

"Rrrf!"

"MMMmmmmuhhhh!"

"WOOF!"

Kiba was suddenly knocked out of his wondrous dream of red cotton candy and purple chocolate bars and had fallen off the edge of his bed. The covers had fallen off with him and were tangled up in his legs. "What the he—oh, yeah! Thanks for waking me up, Akamaru!"

"Ruff!"

The little white dog paced back and forth and anxiously sniffed Kiba's fully-packed old, unused-for-years backpack, tucked secretly behind his dresser so it couldn't be seen. He and his pals had skillfully decided to pack old backpacks. and old clothes, instead of their usual school ones, obviously to hide that fact that they were running off and not being taken. The clothing items they took with them were old and forgotten, and would certaintly not be missed.

Kiba got up, wearing old boots to hide his real footprints from the floor, and stretched away his sleepiness, and ran over Hinata and Sakura's plan in his mind. Firstly, he had to be quiet. Most of the Hokage family were heavy sleepers, but he knew they had to be careful. If they screwed up tonight, some person or other in the house would get suspicious of them and they'd have a wait a long while before trying to sneak out again. With Tsunade's bank going further down the tubes every day, they just couldn't do that.

Once he had dressed in many-pocketed tan shorts and Temari's old blue-colored Miami Dolphins hoodie—and for the first time in his life, put on a watch—he cast a look at their bedroom window, which they'd opened almost all the way many hours before.

When everyone else had gone to sleep, the three had waited an hour, then Kiba and Sakura had crept outside through the front door—wearing gloves to mask fingerprints and make their hands look bigger—climbed up the tree near their room and opened the window, which Hinata had earlier locked, with a kitchen knife they had bought themselves earlier that day. After he and Sakura had gotten in through the window themselves, they'd walked around, wearing old, long-forgotten boots they'd found in their closet, making it look as though some big-footed, poacher-like intruder had looked and walked around their room.

They'd stopped walking at random spots in the room, then jumped onto their beds like rabbits, so that the trail of boot-footprints would abruptly end at random spots in the room, as though the people making them had simply vanished. They'd stayed in beds ever since, and the skillful footprint-fingerprint trail they laid would fool any authorities for sure.

Since they'd done that—perhaps at 11:30 at night?—the window had been open all through their sleep, and though it was almost summer, the breeze had been chilly. If their fingerprints were still there, it would show that mysterious people in gloves had unlocked the window, come in through it, walked around the children's room, investigating, then taken them out of their beds and walked out through the front door. The footprints he and his sisters made now, while they got up and got dressed, would confuse authorities all the more.

Grinning at the brilliance of his sisters, he crept over to Sakura's bed, and gently nudged her. She opened one sleepy, green eye and gave one look over Kiba and understood right away that it was time. She pulled on her own old boots to hide footprints and turned away to dress in old clothes that no one would miss from the back of her closet where she'd found them.

Kiba turned away while she dressed herself and woke up Hinata, his back to Sakura. He pushed gently on her back, and, her being the only light sleeper in the family Kiba knew of, woke up immediately. She turned her head away with an embarrassed blush as she accidentally saw her sister dressing, but the pink-head came up to them and tapped their heads to let them know she was ready.

Sakura wore a light, black jacket unzipped over a Jurassic Park shirt that had once been Tenten's, and knee-length, grey "boy-shorts." Once she had her backpack—the long-forgotten one she had used in the second grade—she would be ready to go. Hinata—not wearing boots but big tennis shoes Jiraiya had left in their room many months ago and forgotten—found herself some suitable clothes and went into the closet to dress, too embarrassed to even stand next to her siblings in such a way. Kiba and Sakura merely shrugged, preparing for their runaway.

Rubber gloves, was the first thing that Kiba went for. They had found an old box of them at the very back of the drawers by the sink. No one would find any rubber gloves suspiciously missing from this house.

As Sakura pointed out, if their house was investigated, the first thing searched for would be fingerprints. If they found the kids' fingerprints on a broken vase and on the window, they would know it was a runaway and not a kidnapping. Rubber gloves would hide their fingerprints; moreover, make it look like a _kidnapper _tried to hide his fingerprints.

Hinata came out of the closet in a light, green jacket, fully zipped up, and long jeans that were close to covering her feet. "Take those old shoes with you, Hinata," Kiba said, pointing to the ones she wore.

The boots their plan was practically built on were two old pairs that they had found in the back of their closet, long forgotten from last Christmas or before, and so old that no one would miss them. (Hinata's pair had actually come from under Kiba's bed.) He had found the old things at least a month ago, stuffed behind Sakura's old, too-small rollerblades and a rain jacket that Hinata had outgrown which had fallen to the closet floor.

There were two pairs of old hiking boots, about Jiraiya's size and nearly torn apart. One pair was camouflage-printed, while the other was solid black. The black boots were closer to ripping apart than the slightly-better-conditioned camo boots. With help from Hinata, he had worked out that he and Sakura could slip on the boots, so that if footprints were investigated as well as fingerprints, they would find the big feet of big men, not little feet of little kids running through the house. This fact had helped them a lot with the "window break-in" stage.

And since their closet hadn't been cleaned out in quite a long time, the only marks on the footprints would be old dust that had sat in the corner of a little room for months. There would be no Akamaru fur that might make a curious sibling think it had been Kiba walking around at night. There would be nothing to draw from the footprints but old dust. No one could figure out anything from old dust.

He and Sakura would wear the boots, and even though Hinata had her own old shoes to use, she would be carried on his back, to help avoid a suspicion, something like—_three kidnappers, three kids? Hmm. The numbers are the same. Perhaps they ran away!_

They'd make sure no one really thought that.

Sakura would carry two backpacks and Hinata's would still be on her own back. Kiba and Sakura would go downstairs, making their footprints look frantic and far apart like big, mean kidnappers making a dash for escape, and on their way out, smash a vase. If Hinata's fake scream didn't wake the family, the vase crashing would, and all that would be left of them would be a broken vase, mussed-up bed-sheets—which they had quietly but violently rolled in to make it look like they struggled when they were kidnapped,— and the lack of their presence.

He sat on his bed, tossed Sakura the worn camo boots and he slipped on the black boots. Sakura took the two backpacks on her arms and Hinata slipped hers on her back. Akamaru, hidden in Kiba's backpack with his nose barely poking out, made not a single sound. Sakura patted his nose lovingly and heard his tail wagging inside the backpack.

"Okay…start walking like n-normal." Hinata said. "You guys made it look like they came in through the window, but carrying three kids, kidnappers can't leave through the window, right? It'd be like carrying too much luggage. They'd fall. They would j-just go out the front door, s-so we'll do that, too. Make your footprints big and wide like grown-up footprints. Kiba, when we're close to the door, I'll scream, make it l-look like I'm, you know…uh, struggling, and then you smash a vase or lamp somewhere, because you have the biggest, most adult-kind-of-big hands. Then we run, rip open the front door and don't look back!"

By the end of her speech, Hinata was giddily smiling with pride at the greatness of her own plan. Sakura searched through every detail of it in her mind and found no flaws. It was perfect, absolutely perfect—and it was almost all Hinata's idea! Little, scared Hinata had nearly done it all.

There was little time to be grateful to Hinata now. They could congratulate her later. Kiba and Sakura, both of whom were sitting on their beds, slowly got off. Then, with Hinata on Kiba's back, Kiba and Sakura began taking big, adult-like steps towards the door. As they looked back at their own footprints, they saw they were almost nonexistent. The dusty footprints of the old boots they wore could barely be seen at all, and if you didn't look for them, you probably wouldn't see them.

Kiba, who had the biggest hands of them all, reached and pulled open the door, making sure to touch it only with his rubber-gloved-hands and not his bare arms or wrists. They moved down the hall with anxiety pulsing all in them—any second now, someone could come out of their room wanting to go down to the kitchen for a midnight snack. Sakura consistently looked up, listening for anyone whose room was on the third floor and might be coming downstairs.

Nothing made any noise anywhere. Perfect.

They crept down the hall, taking agonizingly slow and big steps and being extra careful not to touch walls and leave marks anywhere, especially not on the stairs. Despite how scary it was walking down the stairs with no support while holding heavy things, and being in danger of falling down on their faces and cracking skulls, they couldn't touch the railings.

They came to the foyer, the front door in sight, and almost stopped to stare at the antique lamp that Kiba knew he had to smash down. Before he could stop, Sakura gave him a shove in the arm and he didn't hesitate.

Hinata suddenly gave a loud shout. "Aaah! No! Let me go! Shizune! Shizune! Aaaaaah!"

Somewhere in between Hinata's extremely realistic yells and the bumps and thuds of people upstairs being awoken, Kiba's gloved hand smashed down on the lamp. Sakura dashed past him and covered the front door's doorknob with her hand, ripped it open and dashed out into the night. Kiba and Hinata followed.

As they ran down the driveway—their hoods up to hide their hair color, in case they happened to be seen—Sakura lifted the camo-print boot she was wearing and gave a swift but very unbalanced kick to Jiraiya's car. As though hit by a clumsy car stealer, or kidnapper, the alarm sounded off and began blaring.

By the time anyone in the Hokage household or anyone else on Highstone Drive opened a window or turned on a light, the young ones were already halfway down the dark street, and completely out of sight.

666

June 1st, 3:41 AM (very very early in the morning when the sun isn't even up yet)

666

"_MY BABIES! MY BABIES ARE GONE!" _

Tsunade's fists pulled dangerously on the wooden frame of the children's bookshelf as she stared at the open window and the messy sheets of her babies' bedroom. Behind her, Shizune, Temari and Ino all stared at the empty room with horror and confusion in their eyes.

Shizune and Shikamaru called their names downstairs and Lee could be heard looking in the bushes in the backyard. Chouji shouted their names from the basement. Everyone else ran about the house searching, hoping against hope that three of their youngest hadn't been taken in the night. Kankurou dashed down the stairs from the third floor and made his way over to them, his black cat-eared hat and purple makeup for once absent from him. He panted, and his pajamas, black like almost every other piece of clothing he owned, were tousled up and wrinkled from squeezing himself into small spaces to search.

"They're not…" He spat out lint from the corner of his mouth. "…In the laundry room, either!"

"Call the cops!" Jiraiya commanded. "Now!"

Ino dashed off before anyone could take in their next breath. She dashed to Jiraiya and Tsunade's room and her legs buckled beneath her as worry and fear gripped her heart. Determined to help, she still groped around in the nightstand drawer for a cell phone. She grinned as her hand touched it's cold hardness and she ripped out the black Nextel cell, taking no regard for the other contents of the nightstand drawer that spilled out with it.

It took her a few seconds to realize that the number she needed was 9-1-1. She pressed in the numbers and held the phone frantically to her ear. A woman's voice, not a recorded voice, a real, talking person, answered her.

"_9-1-1 emergency, how can I help you?" _

"My brother and sisters went missing! We need help _now!" _

"_Are you sure they're missing, miss? Absolutely?" _

"Yes!" Ino jumped up and down and stamped the ground. "One of them screamed, and then we heard a vase break, and we all got up out of bed really fast and the window in their room was open and they weren't in bed and the front door was open and—"

"_We're coming right now, miss. Your address?" _

"Umm…Uh…Jiraiya, what's our address?!"

"634 HIGHSTONE DRIVE, CASPER, WYOMING!"

"634 HIGHSTONE DRIVE, CASPER, WYOMING!" Ino repeated her adoptive father's words perfectly into the cell phone. "You need to come, like, NOW!"

"_We'll have police officers there in less than five minutes."_

The woman hung up.

When Shino came rushing into the room in his pajamas, sunglasses on like always, he found Ino standing stupidly with a cell phone at her ear, listening to dial tone. "What are you doing?" He cried. "9-1-1, Ino! Now!" The pretty blonde nodded and absently muttered, "I did. Five minutes…they said five minutes."

Shino followed Ino's eyes and saw her staring at Tsunade's body-length mirror.

With an affectionate smile and a shake of his head, Shino left the room and went downstairs to await the cops. His heart pulsed sadly, as he was particularly close to his brother Kiba. It was practically his _job _to keep the boy in line, along with the others like Shikamaru and Chouji. Shino didn't know what it would be like, nor did he want to know, what it was like to not have Kiba to keep in line. And as he quickly went to open the front door, missing his brother already, he nearly forgot to be shocked.

'_Holy freaking shit.'_

Shino didn't even bother to think that he was a cussing _sixth_ grader.

By the time he'd opened the front door the cops were already coming down the street.

666

June 2nd, 3:55 AM (very very early Monday morning when the sun isn't even up yet)

666

"A quarter per person, kid." The bus driver muttered, staring down at the newspaper.

Kiba nodded and held out his hand. In a few seconds, Sakura had reached into the pocket of her shorts and dropped three quarters into Kiba's hands. Kiba, in turn, dropped them into the slot by the bus driver's hand.

The three of them found a comfortable seat in the very back of the bus. Now all three of the children wore their backpacks—and Akamaru was likely to faint if they didn't give him air soon— but had put down their hoods to cool off from the long run. Since they'd run out their front door, they'd been going down street after street, neighborhood after neighborhood until neighborhoods elevated into shopping streets that were still lit but almost totally deserted.

The only person who'd even looked at them was a old man in a white hat across the street who looked too busy with his cell phone, pager and shopping bags to remember ever seeing three kids running by at 4 AM. Kiba tried to look across the street to see his face, make sure he hadn't really noticed the three of them, but when the poor man dropped all of his things and shouted out in frustration, the brunette boy gave a cheeky grin and knew no one in the world would have seen them.

Sakura suggested they take a bus out of town before morning, when the news of three missing kids would likely be spread all over their section of town. By afternoon, Hinata had put in, more people would hear of it, and everyone at Westmill Middle School would know from gossiping teachers—and their own siblings, of course,— and those students would tell their parents, and by the sunset of June 1st, all of Casper, Wyoming would know of the three kidnapped young ones.

Kiba agreed, led them to a bus station where no one else was around, and waited hardly fifteen seconds before a big, blue bus with a McDonald's advertisement sign on it had come lumbering around the corner. They'd paid seventy-five cents to take the bus to Cheyenne, the state capital, and now they were resting in the back seat of the bus, and the only other one riding it was a sleeping mother and her toddler son who would never care or know that they had ridden the bus with her.

"How long is it to Cheyenne?" He asked, unzipping his backpack and letting Akamaru out.

"I'm guessing two hours." Hinata muttered as she dug through her backpack for something to eat. "…Maybe three…"

"What are we gonna do when we get there?" Kiba's question silenced both the girls and his dog.

He watched as Hinata pulled out a cereal bar and nibbled on it somewhat nervously. To keep them from worrying, he spoke some more. "Did you guys make sure to pack only stuff nobody would miss?"

"Mm-hmm." Sakura said. "I brought my old Gameboy and a couple Pokemon versions, in case some train ride gets really boring. I haven't played it for months, and nobody would know where I kept it anyway. I packed all the money I had, but no one at home knows where I keep my money anyway so they won't know I took it…" She put a finger to her chin. "And I brought two changes of clothes…they're old stuff from the closet and under my bed. And I brought smoke bombs I found in the garage from last 4th of July."

"…you brought smoke bombs?"

"We're running away aren't we? You never know!"

"I guess." All three of them glanced out the window the bus passed a large sign that gave them all a nervous twitch.

_Casper City Limits. _

Kiba took in a deep, serious breath. "Toto…We're not in Wyoming anymore."

"Uh...Yes, we are..."

"Oh. Crap. I mean, Toto, we're not in Casper anymore."

She laughed at the oddness of the saying. "Hey, Hinata, what'd you bring?" The purple-haired girl opened her backpack all the way. Her clothes, old things that nobody would miss, were folded as neat as she could get them, and on top of the clothes she'd packed a small, build-it-yourself tent, a lighter, a flashlight, a blanket, and five cereal bars.

"You thought of everything!" Chuckled Sakura. "Is anyone gonna notice any of it missing at home?"

"None." Hinata announced proudly with a smile. "The lighter, tent, flashlight and b-blanket are things I had under my bed for a year now." Her eyes went distant and dark. "I thought I'd go camping one day…and need these things. I bought them at Wal-Mart with my o-o-own money on the way home from school one day…nobody knows about these things but me."

Kiba whistled and Sakura silently clapped.

"And the cereal bars won't be missed, either. Shizune bought a bunch of boxes last grocery day. There's probably a hundred of them in the pantry. N-nobody will miss these five. And we'll buy some other food in Cheyenne, r-right?"

"Yeah, but uh…" Kiba scratched the back of his head nervously. Hinata and Sakura both looked at him, even Akamaru seemed to sense he was about to say something important.

"What do we do when we get to Cheyenne?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

They all turned to a cross-armed, smiling Sakura.

"No."

"We do whatever we want! No one's gonna be checking nearby cities for us for hours...at least!"

Kiba stared. His mind stopped, started, stopped, started….went into full power.

"We're seein' a movie!" He decided. Sakura agreed with a high-five and Akamaru with a yip. Hinata just laughed at his idea. "It'll be real early in the morning when we get there. Let's sleep now—then when we get to Cheyenne, we're gonna go see _Shrek The Third!" _

And even Hinata high-fived then.

666

Firstly, I saw a lot of flaws with their plan when I first started typing this. Seven errors at least and I retyped the first three pages twice. Secondly, I'm so glad I typed this. It got inspiration for every story going. Everything has at least two new ideas…but most of them are for this story. I got an idea to include a certain male human in this story, to be a crime lord and somehow entangle himself in our three 12-year-old heroes…and that's all I'll say about it.

I'm so glad this part is over. The runaway was fun to type but more fun things await. I plan to introduce more characters, and very soon…that is, after our favorite characters go to Cheyenne and see _Shrek The Third. _

Ta…Storm


End file.
